Some important voices at Concordia come together to discuss a sustainability curriculum and fight against the climate crisis
On Thursday, Jan. 13, Waste Not, Want Not, a compost and waste reduction initiative at Concordia, hosted a virtual fireside chat. The purpose of the conversation was to discuss the future implementation of sustainability education into the curriculum at Concordia. This curriculum would give all students at Concordia a greater understanding of sustainability and the climate crisis.
The panel discussion included both student leaders and university administrators: Chief Data Officer at Times Higher Education, Duncan Ross, Concordia University Provost and Vice-President Anne Whitelaw, Concordia Student Union (CSU) Sustainability Coordinator Faye Sun and Waste Not, Want Not founder Keroles Riad. The conversation detailed the implementation of sustainability education, touching on the timeline, importance and effect that such a curriculum would have on students at Concordia.
The conversation followed a referendum question proposed by the CSU in 2021, which saw 89 per cent of students vote on implementing sustainability education into the curriculum. The question was proposed in a by-election which saw a 20 per cent student turnout, the highest in CSU history.
While the curriculum is not currently in development, Concordia has already begun doing more work in the field of sustainability in 2020 with the Sustainability Action Plan. One aspect of this plan is forming a committee, and one of the topics of discussion is on curriculum development. But for Riad, any step the university takes towards supporting the initiative is important, including the fireside in itself.
“I think it’s one of those situations where it feels as if the university makes progress just by showing up,” said Riad. “Having senior administrators get out of their comfort zone, outside of those scripted PR events and actually have a conversation that is real, and that discusses different perspectives — I think that’s really important.”
The goal of the initiative would be to have all students at Concordia learn about sustainability and the climate crisis. In the meantime, according to Riad, the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) and the Faculty of Fine Arts are currently working on their own sustainability initiatives. But, to create a university-wide curriculum, there is a lot more that needs to be done.
“Number one is a commitment, a goal that everybody agrees on. Number two is a mechanism that ensures that we are getting to that goal in the proper timeline, with built-in flexibility where all our departments and programs can design curriculum the best way for their own disciplines,” said Riad.
“The last thing I think [is needed] is university support, and resources that programs and professors can access so that the initiative is not broken.”
During the discussion Whitelaw mentioned the university is already working on creating some of these resources.
“We will be hiring a sustainability curriculum developer in our centre for teaching and learning that will be supporting faculty members to include sustainability content in their courses,” she said.
A curriculum based around sustainability isn’t a unique idea. A similar program was put in place by Université Laval in 2009, which took ten years to fully implement. This timeline roughly falls in line with the goal of implementing a similar initiative at Concordia by 2030.
With growing fears of the climate crisis and sustainability becoming a more and more popular topic, for Riad this new curriculum can’t come soon enough.
“There’s nothing that prevents the university from saying, ‘Well, look, we heard you were listening. Let’s move even faster, let’s be more ambitious,’” said Riad. “You’re not going to hear me or anybody at the university saying ‘Oh, please don’t move so fast. Don’t go too fast. You’re being too ambitious.’ Nobody’s gonna say that.”
Riad believes that conversations surrounding sustainability at the university level are an important step in a very long road to greater climate action.
“It’s like a marathon. I think today was a good step forward, but we have not reached the finish line. And I think we should not only keep running, but accelerate faster.”You can view the Fireside Chat here. Learn more about Waste Not ,Want Not here.
The letter states 78 per cent of members feel unsafe returning to work
The Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia University (TRAC) union detailed their displeasure with Concordia’s decision to return to campus on Feb. 3. The letter states that 78 per cent of TRAC members do not feel safe returning to work.
Distributed on Jan. 17, the letter titled “No Work But Safe Work” outlined TRAC’s five demands which they would like to be met when a return to campus should occur. Their safety demands include that “Concordia commit to online learning at least until cases and hospitals are under control for a minimum of two weeks.”
Additionally, they demand the provision of N95/KN95 masks to students and employees, and a guarantee of at least two weeks notice before Concordia transitions to or changes their plan to return to campus. Currently the university has stated they will only give a week’s notice. TRAC aren’t alone in these demands, as other unions such as the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) have requested access to similar PPE.
TRAC expressed that Concordia should provide testing measures in the event of a classroom outbreak through “on-campus access to rapid tests and effective contact tracing.”
Their final request was that the university provide “professional, paid training for online teaching considering that it is not the same as in-person, and yet we are expected to learn on the fly.”
In regards to the virus, TRAC stated that a return to campus by Feb. 3 would “increase the spread and place thousands of students and TAs [teaching assistants] & RAs [research assistants] at an unnecessary risk of contracting the virus, which could then be transmitted to their families and overburden the healthcare system.”
The letter further stated that the university would be putting the greater Montreal community at risk if they went through with a preemptive return to classes.
“Although the government insists that mental health is their number one priority in pushing for a return to schools, the stress and fear of an unsafe working environment is a far greater burden on our collective mental health.”
The Concordia Student Union (CSU) published a similar open letter criticizing the university’s return to in-person classes, which collected 850 signatures in less than 9 hours since its release, according to Hannah Jamet-Lange, academic and advocacy coordinator at the CSU.
Currently there have been 259,626 COVID cases in Montreal since the beginning of the pandemic with over 1,374 new cases reported on Jan. 19. Third dose boosters are now available for anyone above the age of 18 in Quebec provided you are three months past your last dose.
After management woes and pandemic slowdowns, The Woodnote is beginning to take shape
After opening in 2020, The Woodnote Solidarity Cooperative has faced many challenges. The pandemic, a rotating door of board members, and a lack of training and guiding policy have made things difficult. However, as the pandemic slows down, along with a new student board elected on Oct. 17 and president elected on Nov. 5, things are beginning to change.
Sylvia Pascua-Matte joined The Woodnote’s co-op board in October 2020 and is the only remaining resident board member from that time, despite board members being elected for two year terms. She is now president of The Woodnote’s Solidarity cooperative’s board.
“I think that the [current] board has a lot of potential. I think that the board [members] are very confident people, and I love their work ethic and I love the project. But the project in itself is riddled with errors,” said Pascua-Matte.
The housing project is the first of its kind, intending to give students access to affordable, not-for-profit housing. Instead of just the usual landlord-tenant model, The Woodnote is a solidarity co-op, meaning it also has a board made of primarily volunteer tenants who help to manage community living within the building. The board consists of six seats for tenants and three for support members — one from UTILE, the other from the CSU and one representative from the Montreal community.
The three main groups who helped bring The Woodnote to life are UTILE, the not-for-profit housing company that designed, developed and owns the building; the CSU, who were the initial investors in the project, fronting almost two million dollars for its development; and the co-op’s board.
Before The Woodnote opened in summer 2020 a provisional committee of students was created to guide the developmental phase of the project, before passing things onto the board.
The co-op struggled in their first year due to an overwhelming lack of training, and balancing administrative tasks they felt unprepared for, like finding insurance for the building’s common room and creating the co-ops governing policy, while trying to foster a community.
“Nobody in the past provisional committee had even thought about [training]. There wasn’t proper onboarding, because everybody who was on the provisional board [left] and didn’t look back,” said Pascua-Matte.
One reason for the lack of support was that neither the CSU nor UTILE deemed it their responsibility to be involved in the student governance of The Woodnote. However, both groups hold support seats on their board.
“We don’t have any legal obligations to The Woodnote. There’s nothing on paper that ties us to The Woodnote other than this support member seat,” said CSU general coordinator Eduardo Malorni.
“The plan was never for the CSU to be the landlord of this building. The plan was never for the CSU to manage this building. The plan was never for the CSU to be involved in the day to day operations of the board. The plan for the CSU was always to be the initial investor, to allow this building to come to existence, and for the students within the building to really play the main role in managing their own building.”
A sentiment which UTILE executive director and co-founder, Laurent Levesque also shared.
“We handle our management partnership in all of the building operations. So all of the maintenance, rent collection, all of the baseline work to make sure people are safe and the building is well maintained is handled by our team of professionals,” explained Levesque.
“And then there’s the community living layer on top of that, which is handled by the co-op, which is led by students. And in that layer, we only play a support role.”
But it wasn’t just community living that the board was left to deal with.
Stephen Beker has been involved with the project since July 2019. He was a member of the provisional committee put in place prior to The Woodnote’s opening and is the former president of the board. He claims that the provisional committee put in place didn’t do enough to set the board up for success.
“We had meetings every week, and we tried to solve problems we weren’t equipped to solve. And we were tasked with making policy.” Beker said. “The problem is that the committee had no expertise.” Today, much of The Woodnote’s policy regarding finances, labour agreements, anti-opression, sexual assault and misconduct remain unfinished.
“The problem was that when people moved into The Woodnote, the building blocks were not built. As we speak today, the building blocks are still not built,” said Beker. “I would spend hours and hours on the phone, doing the most simple things like trying to get us a bank account.”
These issues have made it difficult for The Woodnote to cultivate its co-op identity, and students have noticed. Dylan Gitalis has been a resident at The Woodnote since it opened in 2020. He says his experience has been “very positive.” But, there are things he thinks it could do better.
“There’s definitely a good strong community here.” Gitalis said. “But it doesn’t really feel like a co-op, it feels like UTILE kind of owns it. It doesn’t feel like we have ownership over the building […] But, we’re still all people here so there is so much in our control in terms of the social dynamics and the culture.”
A Woodnote resident, Dylan Gitalis shares his experiences living in the co-op. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian
Even though the board is supposed to represent students living in the building, when residents have issues related to the building or their apartment unit they have to take them to the property manager employed by UTILE. This limits the board’s ability to represent students on these issues. Julia Belmore is a former woodnote resident who found it difficult to get help when she had problems with her apartment.
“Every time we brought up an issue, it kind of felt like it became our fault — like my fridge broke, and I wasn’t there and then all of a sudden, they were saying that we’re gonna have to pay for repairs. My apartment had no fridge for like a month in total.” Belmore said.
“But, if anything happened, it was on you to deal with.”
When applying to live at The Woodnote, students are asked what they can bring to the co-op . But, the pandemic and a lack of consistent access to their common room made planning these events difficult.
“Everybody has something they can bring, but nobody’s really doing it now unless you’re on the board and go through all these hoops,” said Gitalis.
“We can all run events that we’re talented at in the common room: someone can run yoga, we can all paint together. We can all do a jam session, and we can paint the stairwells, you know, and make our mark on it. […] That stuff to me means that this is our space, our cooperative. Right now it’s not.” Gitalis continued.
“We want to be a community together.”
Instability on the board also made running these events difficult. There was a very high-rate of turnover with board members consistently stepping down. Pascua-Matte was the only resident board member to return when the five new resident members were elected on Oct. 17. Former president Stephen Beker, who stepped down in October, had concerns that without stability and the removal of a great deal of institutional knowledge under a brand new board the co-op could fold. Something that neither UTILE nor the CSU have been worried about.
“The board is pretty much immune to folding.” Malorni stated. “Let’s say everyone left, every member of the board all decided not to show up. Someone could have gone to The Woodnote and been like ‘Hey, officially the paperwork [still says] that we’re a solidarity co-op. Can we organize a meeting and appoint a new board?’ An entire failure of the board will just result in one year of [a bad] experience, and then someone would restart the board and they would start fresh again,” Malorni stated. Levesque also shares this perspective.
“That’s the beauty of the model. If [the co-op folds] or decides to go dormant or dissolve by its own decision, it doesn’t have any impact on the building continuing its operations. The achievement of the goal of affordable housing is not directly tied to high-level student involvement.”
However, the co-op model is a big part of what makes the building unique, and it’s not something Pascua-Matte wants to see fail.
“To have them say if the board were to fail [it would be fine], that shouldn’t be in the realm of possibility. You’ve poured a [lot] of money into a project. That doesn’t mean you give it the option to fail. If you’re giving it the option to fail, then obviously it’s gonna fail.”
But UTILE said they are holding up their end of the bargain, and in many ways, The Woodnote has achieved many of its goals.
“Woodnote is a resounding success. I mean, they have newly constructed units at a very good price in a very good location and that’s the bottom line.” said Levesque.
“One of the things that The Woodnote does that deserves to be mentioned is the fundamental aspect of not trying to profit off of students,” said Levesque.
“Rents in the project increased by 1.5 per cent to follow inflation; but, rents on the plateau increased by 5 per cent, that non-profit approach to housing is important to make work in the short term. But, [it] has really important impacts in the long term, in ensuring affordable housing for future generations.”
The Woodnote Co-op in the Plateau Mont-Royal. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian
To help get the co-op back on track after a rough first year, Malorni said the CSU is giving The Woodnote more attention by bringing in more experienced support members to give input on training and managing the board.
“I’m calling up people with board experience, who actually work in these sort of organizations to find someone willing to take up extra volunteer tasks of helping these people,” said Malorni. “I’ve been ensuring that pieces are joining the board which will ensure its success.”
“I’m playing a much more communicative role, which isn’t necessarily the role of the CSU to try and stabilize this board. We’re making sure that they do have the tools to succeed.”
While the CSU is trying to put more effort into supporting The Woodnote, Pascua-Matte still doesn’t feel she is seeing it enough and still feels the co-op’s concerns are being neglected and ignored.
“We would like to be properly supported and represented and what [they’re] doing right now is not representative of that.”
But as the pandemic eases, The board has finally been able to begin doing the community building it set out to do all along, the board is encouraging students to get involved and they’re responding by starting clubs and running events.
“We’re starting to work with different organizations that reflect what we want at The Woodnote. We are hoping to get some compost soon, […] we’re getting workshops done, like mandatory ones regarding anti-oppression and sexual violence.”
Now, with a new board of enthusiastic members some more training and hard work the student-run community can begin to take shape.
“People are seeing that the board is functioning, and we’re here and we’re supposed to represent you and they’re participating more and that’s what we want: participation,” said Pascua-Matte.
Pascua-Matte thinks The Woodnotes goals as a co-op are worth fighting for, and now with a more stable board they can begin to create a positive change and live up to the original promise of a student managed cooperative.
“Although there’s a lot of turmoil. I think that we can still follow the mandate that was originally given to us,” said Pascua-Matte. “I think the people on this board are willing to work for it.”
Feature graphic by James Fay and Catherine Reynolds
Concordia University Television (CUTV) hosts trans-advocate Celeste Trianon to speak on Bill 2
The Quebec National Assembly tabled Bill 2 on Thursday, Oct. 21, which has been cited as one of the most regressive trans-rights bills in Quebec’s history. Bill 2 would see that only transgender people who undergo gender-affirming surgery can successfully request an official sex change on their birth certificate.
The inability to represent yourself legally as the gender with which you identify is extremely limiting for trans people. Simple tasks like preparing a CV or cashing a cheque with your preferred name become much harder.
Under the new bill gender reaffirming surgery will be required for anyone to change their sex on legal documents, a surgery that results in infertility. The policy effectively forces sterilization upon anyone who wants to be legally recognized by the gender with which they identify on their legal documents. It would also forcibly out trans people and strip them of safety.
The trans community and advocates throughout the province have responded en masse to the discriminatory policy proposed by Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette.
Concordia University Television (CUTV) held a press conference in conjunction with the premiere of their new documentary on trans rights in Quebec, featuring trans-rights activist Celeste Trianon, an educator at the Centre for Gender Advocacy.
“Let’s just say this bill is an enormous regression and the most transphobic bill of not just Quebec but Canada as a whole. It is truly the most regressive bill in the entire country,” said Trianon.
The regressive nature of Bill 2 has led to many pointing out the province’s failure to address gender issues compared to other provinces, but this has not always been the case.
“Actually Quebec once upon a time was ahead, the ability for trans people to change their gender marker was first introduced in 1978, albeit with lots of requirements, of course. And trans people have been protected from discrimination on the basis of sex since 1998. So there have been lots of advances both at the legal and judicial levels a long time ago, but in recent years Quebec has really fallen behind,” said Trianon.
The Quebec government wants to make up for the loss of the ability for trans people to legally change their documents with the addition of a new gender identity marker.
“This gender identity marker is separate from the sex designation and will effectively serve as a way to separate trans people from their cisgender counterparts. By separating [them], this makes trans people extremely vulnerable, extremely seen,” said Trianon.
“Fighting for trans rights is broader trans inclusion in society which necessarily involves not being as visibly trans, but this trans identity marker will make them extremely visible.”
The response to Bill 2 has been “overwhelmingly and unanimously negative” from the trans community, according to Trianon. Protests have already taken place and a legally-binding petition was filed by Trianon on Oct. 26 in order to give Quebec citizens and residents a clear pathway to participate in the legal system in the fight against Bill 2. Efforts have been made to contact lawmakers by phone and email to make them aware of the transphobic nature of the bill. Quebec Solidaire works closely with the Centre for Gender Advocacy and has opposed the bill along with some Quebec liberals.
When it comes to other levels of government within Canada, Trianon said “There have been a lot of informal responses, but there hasn’t been anything official yet. But the trans community can only hope that there is official involvement.”
In the meantime, there is still hope for those who want to fight against Bill 2.
“There are so many things you can do. A few things that have happened already are grassroots activism. Protests have been planned as little as three or four days after the bill was introduced […] You can always join in with them. Additionally, you can always donate funds to organizations fighting for trans rights.”
Some popular organizations which take donations are Project 10, Gris Montreal and the Montreal LGBTQ+ community centre.
“You can sign the legally-binding petition as soon as it is made available. You can also call your lawmakers to tell them directly this bill is wrong, tell them we won’t accept transphobia and interphobia in modern 21st-century society,” said Trianon.
You can learn more about the fight against gender oppression at the Centre for Gender Advocacy’s web page, and watch CUTV’s documentary on the evolution of trans rights here.
Activist Frantz André is calling on politicians to encourage greater support for the Haitian community
Activists are calling on Montreal’s Haitian community and the Canadian government to take greater action to support the small nation.
From the crisis that followed the assassination of former Haitian then-president Jovenel Moïse in July, to a massive earthquake on Aug.14 that saw a wave of refugees flee to the U.S. and Mexico border seeking safety, it has been a devastating year for Haiti.
Many of the migrants from Haiti and many South American countries were living in makeshift camps near the Del Río-Ciudad Acuña International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas. With little access to food or water on the American side, asylum seekers were forced to travel to Mexico in order to obtain supplies. It was on their way back to the camp where these people encountered the U.S. border patrol.
Images of border patrol agents on horses pushing back Haitian refugees have since gone viral.
Frantz André, a Haitian activist in Montreal who has long advocated for the rights of asylum seekers, said that “The image that came to mind was that we were back to slavery times, with slaves running away from the cotton plantation.” André is a spokesperson for Solidarité Québec-Haïti, and has been a member of the Action Committee for People Without Status (CAPSS). He was nominated by Gala Dynastie for activist of the year and has received the medal of the National Assembly of Quebec.
Montreal is a city with a large Haitian community. Haiti is a former French colony with a large number of French speakers, and this connection is what makes Montreal a popular location for migrants and refugees. Now some Haitian support groups and activists, like André, are condemning the actions of the U.S. government, and are calling on greater action here in Canada.
The reason for the sudden influx of asylum seekers at the U.S. border was the decision to renew a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months by the Biden Administration. Many Haitians thought if they arrived in the States, they would be covered by the TPS. But this was not the case, as the TPS only applied to Haitians already residing in the U.S.
Many of the Haitian migrants who arrived at the border were already living in other South American countries and decided to make the journey to the U.S.
“Many decided, ‘I do not have a good life in Brazil, or Chile or whatever, I’m going to try to get in.’ Because some people do [get into the U.S.] and some people don’t,” said André.
“But when they arrived, most of them didn’t get in and thousands of them got deported to Haiti, even though some of them do not know it. Some of the kids were born in Brazil or other countries in South America.”
Solidarité Québec-Haïti is one such group that has been fighting against the mistreatment of Haitian migrants. The organization hosted a protest in front of the U.S. consulate in Montreal on Sept. 25. According to an article by the CBC news, only a few dozen people attended.
To activists like André, it’s been a disappointing reaction.
“To be honest, I’ve done two protests in the past two or three weeks and we didn’t get the response that you would have expected,” he said.
“Whatever we are doing to defend our community or defend the people back home we aren’t getting the response we used to […] It’s almost like they have given up on the country or given up on our identity, they have given up on the suffering of our brothers. […] The response is very timid and verbal.”
Haitian people began immigrating to Montreal in the 1960s André himself arrived in 1965 and even though their numbers were smaller at that time André says “There was greater solidarity.”
André says that many Canadian-Haitian leaders have not been taking a strong enough stand.
“We don’t get much from Frantz Benjamin, Emmanuel Dubourg, Nadine Girault, Dominique Anglade and other community leaders,” said André.
Frantz Benjamin, Nadine Girault, and Dominique Anglade are all members of the National Assembly of Quebec, while Emmanual Dubourg is a member of Parliament representing Bourassa. The Concordian has reached out to these community figures, but have not yet received a comment.
In a response made to The Concordian by Peter Liang, a communications advisor with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, it was stated that “Canada has a deep and long-standing commitment to Haiti, and we want to continue to strengthen our efforts to improve the lives of the Haitian people. Canada, along with other key players in the international community in Haiti has been engaging directly with the interim government and other actors, to ensure peace and stability and encourage an inclusive dialogue with all political parties and all sectors of society.”
“When I do protests they’re not there,” said André. “Those Haitians that are in politics should be talking about what’s happening and asking the Canadian government to take a strong stand, denouncing and telling the States that ‘What you’re doing is not right. We in Canada are with Haitians and what you are doing is wrong.’ We don’t hear that from Trudeau or any of my brothers and sisters who are in politics.”
Despite a disappointing reaction from the public and politicians alike in André’s eyes, he reinforces that “Getting into the protests, definitely writing to the MPs, definitely writing to Mr. Trudeau himself,” are some of the things that Haitian and non-Haitian Montrealers can do to support the nation and its people.
The leaders of Concordia Model UN give a presentation at a training session. September 22 2021
Concordia breaks into the top 20 Model UN delegations for the first time
The CED ranked 19th among North American Model UN teams, a massive achievement, which puts them in the company of other elite universities such as Harvard, Yale, UCLA and McGill. For the CED, it is their highest ranking ever in the North American division, and first time breaking into the top 20. In the past two years, Concordia has finished in the top 25.
“So, it’s really like finally saying ‘okay Concordia as a delegation is on the map.”’ said Jonah Guez, a Concordia graduate and former CED president.
“It’s finally like the efforts have finally come to fruition, and people within Concordia absolutely believe in the fact that they can win now.”
The North American College Model UN rankings are based on how delegations perform at various conferences throughout the year, as well as how many awards their delegates and overall delegations receive. The higher the amount of conferences they attend, the more awards they can take home. The conferences are held across North America.
One of the toughest conferences is held at Harvard University, where Concordia student and current president of the CED Alexi Dubois placed third in his committee.
In Model UN competitions, competitors are referred to as delegates who take on the role of representing different countries in a mock UN General Assembly, UN Security Council or other UN bodies, to smaller competitions where the delegates act and debate as characters in a scenario, like a historical event or a board of directions. They take on the perspective of these countries and debate how to tackle global issues like climate change, trade, and other global affairs, or in presenting and debating their characters’ point of view in a smaller event. These committees like the UN General Assembly are often very large with up to 100 delegates involved.
“So, it can go anywhere from 193 countries, and a large room representing the United Nations General Assembly, to honestly 15 people talking about the October Crisis as their own characters — it’s a huge range of topics, but there’s a little bit of something for everyone,” said Dubois.
Dubois specializes in smaller committees, where delegates may portray the board members of a major company or different characters during historical events. At Harvard, he was a part of a historical committee, with the topic being that of the October Crisis in Quebec.
Dubois was tasked with portraying a feminist separatist journalist during the October Crisis, and his performance earned him third place in the committee, a major personal achievement for him.
“I’d gone to Harvard the year before in-person, and I’d come up short. I hadn’t won anything, but I kind of left feeling like ‘Oh, these are the differences I need to make to my performance to be able to do better,’” Dubois explained.
“It felt really amazing to hear your name called out at probably the toughest Model UN conference you can go to […] there’s a lot of work and preparation that goes in beforehand, and to actually then be able to translate all your research and all your work into a performance that’s recognized is a really great feeling.”
Model UN is built around public speaking, and interpersonal social skills. To win awards, it’s not always about who speaks the loudest, but who can get the most people on their side.
“Public speaking is something we know we can help you with. We know that even with a bit of nervousness, we can coach you through it and make you a really great public speaker. The best skill you can have to try out for the team that we’re looking for is really just those interpersonal skills and being able to have people listen to you,” Dubois said.
The CED’s best year ever comes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Model UN circuit thrives on in-person conferences and collaboration between universities, and was therefore greatly affected by the pandemic. Conferences took place almost entirely online, which made it difficult to get new students involved in the program.
There is still a lot of uncertainty moving forward for the CED regarding travel, and which conferences may be held in person or online, but it isn’t slowing Dubois or his team down.
“Our goal this year is to attend as many conferences as possible, and [focus] on what’s called delegation awards. So we’ve really tried to create a strategy which focuses on not necessarily individual awards but team awards,” Dubois explained. The teams that win the most awards in a conference win delegation awards.
“Those delegation awards really make the largest difference to climb up in the rankings. So if we’re around 19th at the moment, and if we want to crack the top 15, which would be a dream, it would be fantastic. We really need to start working on getting more delegation awards.”
One thing that makes the CED different and possibly so successful for the time they’ve existed is the culture around teamwork that they have developed.
“Chicago and Georgetown universities, who have huge Model UN programs, and they’re actually extremely competitive within themselves. So not only do you compete against other people at conferences, you actually first compete against people from your own school to be able to go to a conference, and that’s not really the way we approach things. At Concordia, we hold a tryout in October, and we have 30 to 40 people who make the team. From that point on, it’s everyone trying to help each other together,” described Dubois.
The CED will be hosting training sessions for new and interested students beginning Sept. 22 leading up to their in-house tryouts in October.
Le Frigo Vert is back to offering students food, education and community
As the semester begins and students head back to campus for the first time in months, there is more to look forward to than just classes. Many student fee-levy groups are getting the opportunity to open their doors to new and old students for the first time since March 2020.
One such organization is Le Frigo Vert, an alternative health and community organization. Le Frigo Vert celebrated their grand reopening last week on Sept. 16, offering door prizes, free samosas, and kombucha.
Students were given the opportunity to check out some of the services Le Frigo Vert offers, of which there are many. They operate as a lounge and café, along with selling herbs and wellness products. One of Frigo’s most prominent resources is the pay-what-you-can food baskets, which give students and Frigo members access to affordable, healthy foods which are grown in a garden on the Loyola Campus.
Hunter Cubitt-Cooke, is a western clinical herbalist and a collective member at Le Frigo Vert, who has worked with the organization for six years. He says that over the pandemic the food baskets became even more essential.
“Obviously it’s harder to access food. Food prices have been going up and up. A lot of people just need access to healthy food, so we’re doing only the food baskets now, instead of more grocery items.”
Le Frigo Vert also hosts political debates and other information sessions, though they are currently on hold due to the pandemic. In addition to their food baskets, they offer pay-what you-can herbal medicines as well as natural menstrual products, free supplies for safer sex and drug use, and they have a kitchenette that is available to students.
Everything Le Frigo Vert does is centered around their mandate and constitution. The constitution focuses a lot on their values of anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, and ecological sustainability and integrity — just to name a few.
Some of their goals are to be able to provide vegetarian nourishment to marginalized groups, while challenging corporate involvement in food production and distribution.
With the space being fully open, more students will be able to take advantage of the organization’s services, and join in the community.
“Today seeing the lounge filled up, that was great. People were meeting each other and discussing ideas and hearing about [new] things,” Cubitt-Cooke said. “That’s been a huge loss of the pandemic. People don’t care about other political struggles going on, they’re not meeting each other. So we’re excited for that to continue.”
It‘s safe to say that the organization does a lot of different things. It’s tough to pin the space down as just a café, or a shop. More than anything, it’s a community centre for students and members to make their own.
“[We want] more students to come to us and use the space as they see fit,” Cubitt-Cooke said. Students can rent the space after hours, for clubs or other gatherings.
Vikram Iyer is one of the students that came to check out Le Frigo Vert at the grand reopening for the first time.“I like these student cooperatives and initiatives, especially in social spaces,” Iyer said.
“It’s a pretty chill place. It’s a great place to have a conversation and meet like-minded people. […] A lot of cool hangout places have been closed down due to COVID and it’s great to see them open back up again.”
Students can find Le Frigo Vert and access all of the services they offer at 1440 Mackay St. Monday – Thursday from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Pictured left to right: Sam Miriello, Fabiola Ngamaleu Teumeni
As the federal and city elections draw near many current and past Concordians are finding their voice
With the 2021 federal election well under way, a number of current and former Concordians are taking their first steps into the political spotlight. This year Concordia has produced candidates in a variety of positions and parties. Some have joined the NDP, or the Liberal and Conservative parties, while others are involved in municipal politics running for city council here in Montreal.
Samuel Miriello graduated from Concordia in 2021. He’s worked in PR for the past five years but recently became involved with Mouvement Montréal. The party was founded in 2021 and is placing a large focus on community action and getting people involved in political decisions. Miriello had been involved in politics at Concordia when he was CSU councillor, but this is his first time running in a government election. “As a Concordia student there is a lot of opportunity to get involved in politics.”
Miriello is running in the Ville-Marie, Sainte-Marie riding which puts him in direct competition with Montreal’s current mayor Valérie Plante.
“I really like being in competition with Plante … I want to see her held responsible for some of the things that she’s done.” Miriello says.
Going to Concordia has certainly shaped Miriello’s views and involvement in politics. “Part of that is there is such an activist community here, we played an essential role in the 2012 student strikes, we have a history of becoming involved in national and international issues. Like in 2002 when we protested a visit from the Israeli prime minister.”
Miriello says it has been really inspiring to see students come together. Working in politics isn’t something he always imagined he would be doing though. “I was actually kind of against politics for a while but then I realized … we can also progress and participate in reform, while advocating for systemic change.”
His current campaign places a lot of focus on community involvement by creating a community action plan and creating a clear outline of exactly what students want. He also wants to focus on reducing rent costs and improving community gardens.
Regardless of the result of the election Miriello will continue to be involved in his community.
“Voting every four years is not how you make progress; you have to continue the pressure the entire time. If I were to be elected or not elected, I will continue to apply pressure on the government. But it would be more ideal if I was in the government, facilitating that pressure.
At just 20 years old, Fabiola Ngamaleu Teumeni has an impressive resume. After being confirmed as the NDP’s nominee for the Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle riding on June 14 she has likely spent more time campaigning than she has at Concordia. A first year student in Concordia’s psychology program, an immigrant and proud Quebecer, Ngamaleu Teumeni is excited to make a change in her community.
“I’ve been very, very involved in community engagement and civic engagement in my riding, but also in Montreal and in Quebec. I think that it’s very important to be an active member of our society, and to contribute to it in order to make it better. So that’s sort of one of the reasons why I wanted to get into politics at such an early time,” she said.
As a young woman engaged in her community Ngamaleu Teumeni had never met her riding MP and never seen her at any events. “I thought that was very odd because she’s representing us in Parliament, and she’s voting on issues that touch us and she wasn’t always voting in line with what the constituents want.”
Its the NDP’s policies on the environmental and social justice issues that first drew her to the party.
“I feel as though there’s a very huge lack of representation when it comes to young Black women.” she said.
“We’re present in the society. Minorities are here and minorities need to be heard. I’ve decided to do this in the name of representation so that we can have more folks in Parliament that are speaking for visible minorities.”
When it comes to inspiration, Ngamaleu Teumeni doesn’t have to look further than her own parents.
Ngamaleu Teumeni moved to Quebec from Germany with her family at 4 years old, her family is originally from Cameroon. Her parents both went back to school while raising her and her brother, after first moving to Quebec. “The fact that I can say today that because of them, because of everything that they’ve given me I’m able to run for a federal election and even have a possible chance to win. That’s really great, and I’m very grateful for that.”
Some issues that Ngamaleu Teumeni has focused on during her campaign are controlling housing prices, making public transport cheaper and more accessible, and providing greater protection for the environment as well as creating greenspaces.
Ngamaleu Teumeni has been able to communicate more with her community through this campaign, something which she loves.
“Being able to present resolutions and solutions to those folks, has been a very big highlight.” she said.
Mathew Kaminski completed his undergraduate degree with a bachelor of commerce and is now working on his CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) diploma as a graduate student at Concordia. He is currently a Conservative MP candidate in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount riding.
At 23 years old, Kaminski has been involved in politics for a long time. During his undergraduate studies he represented the JMSB faculty in the CSU. He was also the president of Conservative Concordia.
“I’ve been involved the whole way through since I was 17 and it took me years to develop the knowledge and the confidence to be able to run federally.”
Kaminski’s time in university made a huge impact on shaping his political aspirations.
“Concordia shaped me the most in terms of politics, in really recognizing the social issues that are relevant to students,” he said. “and what solutions are needed.”
“One of my first meetings I ever had with the CSU, they acknowledged that we were seated on Indigenous lands. And that really stood out to me.”
Indigenous affairs are something that remain important to Kaminski as one of the main highlights of his campaign, as he hopes to restore some Indigenous faith in the government.
Another issue Kaminski is passionate about is climate change. “Concordia also made me recognize how much that’s an issue, not only for our generation, but for generations to come.”
While he admits the Conservative climate change plan did not receive the best grade he thinks it will be more effective than the Liberals’.
“What we did is we released a plan that we know we can achieve that will actually have a tangible impact on the environment.”
As he continues his studies while beginning his journey into politics, he is up against some stiff competition — NDG-Westmount has long been a Liberal riding. But this does not seem to have shaken Kaminski’s confidence.
“My mentality has been that I will be an MP one day, I am not going to shy away from that. I will work hard, even if I have to run three, four times and chip away slowly at the support in the riding, I will become an MP. As a childhood dream of mine, it was always to become prime minister of Canada, and so although I’m still very far away from that goal, at least it’s one step forward.”
Chelsea Craig graduated from Concordia in 2016 with a bachelor’s in political science and government, and at 29 years old she is a co-campaign manager for Liberal MP and Mount
Royal candidate Anthony Housefather, who is running for re-election.
A visit from Justin Trudeau to Concordia is a big part of what spurred Craig’s interest in politics
“Ever since then I became very involved with the party. I was the president of the Liberal Concordia during the 2015 campaign … Once I found a way to be involved in partisan politics I found that it was really something that was super enriching and I’ve made a lot of friends and it just is something that always gives me a new challenge.”
The life of a campaign manager can be unpredictable one. Every day is something different. Sometimes Craig is going door to door, or working on the vote strategy, or managing volunteers.
Like many other alumni involved in politics, Concordia played a huge role in Craig’s political development.
“I honestly have nothing but positive things to say about Concordia. I feel like Concordia allowed me to network. Concordia introduced me to the Liberal Party and through Concordia I really got to springboard my career,” Craig said.
The thing that drew her most to the Liberal Party was the official languages.
“I think the Liberal Party has the best ideas on ensuring whether it’d be the francophone minority outside of Quebec or the English-speaking minority inside of Quebec that they keep their rights and that we work with those communities, to see exactly what is needed and how we can better ourselves.”
Politics are an important issue to Craig and something that she wants everyone to embrace.
“There’s a space for everyone in politics. Sometimes I hear people being cynical about it and saying ‘Oh, it’s never going to make a difference’ or ‘You go out and vote and then nobody cares anymore’ and that’s just really not true. There’s so many different ways that you can voice those issues and we are so lucky to live in a country that asks for our opinion.”
While these are not all the candidates or politically involved people Concordia has produced in current or past elections, it is certain that they will not be the last, as we continue to foster individuals ready to make a difference.
An interview with Austin Wrinch of the Diving Bell Social Club
At 3956 Saint Laurent Blvd., behind a black door covered in graffiti, and three stories up a single flight of stairs is the Diving Bell Social Club. The venue opened in 2018 in a space previously occupied by the once-popular Champs sports bar.
Since their opening, the Diving Bell has acted as a multimedia performance venue, hosting concerts, stand-up comedy and drag shows.
However, the club has been closed since early March 2020, when the owners chose to close the venue in response to the then-burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic, not long before government regulations forced all venues to close.
Diving Bell Social Club is under renovation.
Austin Wrinch is the co-owner and manager of the Diving Bell.
“We actually decided ourselves to kind of close before [the government] had fully mandated it. Basically, we’re an event space and a bar. So our activity, what we do at the space, is very much dictated by the community around us,” said Wrinch.
“At that point, we were saying, [we’d be closed] ‘til the end of the month of March 2020, which is kind of funny in retrospect.”
It’s disappointing that the Diving Bell has had to close for so long when 2020 was looking like it could be their best year yet.
“January and half of February was definitely a good time. It’s weird thinking back now … My memories of those shows don’t include any sort of COVID fear. It kind of set in like, two weeks later [that] it was just here to stay,” said Wrinch.
“If we were not hitting a stride, I would feel less confident about all this time passing and opening up again … If it wasn’t for COVID, 2020 was looking like it was going to be the best year ever for us. But it will again.”
The venue has stayed afloat thanks to rental subsidies and loans that have been made available to small businesses. Some emergency loans have been made available for small businesses, but they depend on a variety of criteria such as revenue. Some loans are interest-free while others have small amounts of interest. All of them are outlined under Canada’s COVID-19 response plan.
But, in the world of the pandemic, those loans don’t guarantee that you’ll be able to keep your business open.
“Yeah, you can get access to $20,000 or something for your business as a loan. [But] you know you have to start paying that back at a certain point, and then there’s interest after a certain point,” said Wrinch.
“When your business has been closed and it’s still unclear how long it’s going to be before you can actually be generating money with that business, it’s actually kind of nerve-racking, using more loan money, because that’s not your money. It’s all going to be paid back eventually.”
The staff at the Diving Bell hasn’t remained completely out of work.
“We had a lot of time to do a lot of things that we’ve always wanted to do in the space,” Wrinch said.
The team has been doing some renovations during its closure, which is great but can be very tricky to do when you have no idea when your business may be open again.
“It’s been definitely very tough the last year, just with the uncertainty and everything, and it’s by no means over,” said Wrinch
“We didn’t do crazy renovations, we did them all ourselves … We had to be very, very cautious on not spending too much money.”
Wrinch says the space has also been used by artists to do live streams and hybrid performances, as a way of making sure it gets some use during the pandemic.
As restrictions are gradually being lifted, theatres and larger venues were able to open on March 26, 2021. But because the Diving Bell is also a bar and a smaller standing room venue, it will be remaining closed.
Even when restrictions are lifted, the team at the Diving Bell won’t be desperate to open up if they don’t feel it’s safe. “We would definitely stay closed if we didn’t feel like it was a good idea,” said Wrinch.
But even if the space was to reopen, their business revolves around the artists who perform there. In the summer when restrictions were more relaxed, it was difficult to get people to come out and perform.
“The general response was ‘yeah, I’m definitely down. But I want to wait and see some other shows go first, to kind of gauge the vibe and make sure that it’s not pushing it.’ You don’t want it to feel irresponsible.”
Wrinch is confident the Diving Bell will be able to reopen but isn’t sure it will be happening anytime soon.
“It’s been definitely very tough the last year, just with the uncertainty and everything, and it’s by no means over,” said Wrinch
“People have been good with supporting local businesses, restaurants and stuff. But, I think that really when it comes down to reopening live performance halls in safe ways, it’s obvious [that] it’s going to come down to people showing the actual support, going and contributing to those communities, if they want them to survive,” Wrinch continued.
The Diving Bell Social Club will be back to hosting concerts of all kinds — as soon as it’s safe — at 3956 Saint Laurent Blvd., way up the stairs.
This year’s CSU elections seem to have taken students by surprise
Students had the opportunity to vote last week in the CSU general elections, but it seems like many students may have missed their chance.
This year’s elections had the lowest voter turnout the CSU has seen in recent years, with 1,536 votes cast; 4.8 per cent of the 32,199 students registered to vote.
This was a 0.8 per cent decrease from last year’s general election, in February 2020, which had the advantage of being held in-person and online, with a total of 1,731 votes.
The results of this election were also a massive decrease from the by-elections in fall 2020 a greater success with a 17.8 per cent voter turnout.
The elections are an opportunity for students to select who will represent them in the coming year. This year, due to the pandemic, they were held entirely online which may have made it difficult for students to get involved.
Some were completely unaware elections were happening in the first place.
“I didn’t know that it was happening this year, until I got the email pop up,” said Noah Cohen-Wanis, a second-year Mechanical Engineering student. “I had more important school things to worry about, like my grades.”
The pandemic and online classes have made it more difficult for students to keep up with school news unrelated to their own classes. In a time where students are notified of nearly everything by email, it can be easy to miss things.
Some students feel that just receiving an email from the school isn’t enough to get them interested in the election in the first place. Cohen-Wanis suggested a more personal approach, with candidates trying to make appearances briefly in Zoom lectures as they often did when classes were in-person.
“That way we can hear them talk and understand what their purpose is and what change they’re trying to make. It would definitely get me interested instead of just getting some email from the school,” said Cohen-Wanis.
Other students suggested taking advantage of other essential Concordia platforms like Moodle and MyConcordia; things that students interact with every day.
“Honestly if one of my friends hadn’t told me the CSU election was this week I’m not sure I would have seen the email until the weekend [after the elections],” said Patrick Baylis, a third-year Engineering student.
Not knowing who they were voting for was a common issue among students who did take part in the election.
“I feel like the most I learned about the candidates was when I was actually looking at the ballot — previously I didn’t know who was running,” said Baylis.
Information about candidates can be found on the CSU’s website. While many candidates have detailed bios and campaign information, many have less than a paragraph, or even nothing at all written. Some candidates simply stated the position they were running for.
Some students did try to vote in the elections, but got frustrated by the online process.
“I got an error saying I wasn’t registered for any ballot,” said Baylis. After contacting an elections representative from the CSU, Baylis was sent a second email that would detail how he was going to vote again. Many students received multiple emails with different voting information.
The emails contained unique voter login and password information for use on the official CSU online voting website. But after voting, some students were sent another email with new login credentials, after receiving an error message when trying to vote the first time.
Baylis explained that the follow-up email did not contain any information detailing if his original vote was invalid, or whether he would have to vote again. It was only after contacting a CSU elections official, that he was told he would have to vote again.
“It was just from my conversation with the election person at the CSU, I knew I would need to go and vote through that link as opposed to the previous link,” he said.
Baylis says many of his peers were sent second emails with voting links as well, and many were unsure if their original vote was actually cast.
Logo courtesy of the Concordia Student Union (CSU)
Bill C-21 invites controversy from all sides of the gun debate
Following the ban of 1,500 makes and models of firearms in May, the Liberals are proposing new gun restrictions under Bill C-21, which will grandfather out assault weapons currently in circulation with a voluntary buy-back program, should the bill pass.
“Gun violence has had devastating effects on communities across the country, and on too many Canadians who have lost loved ones. According to Statistics Canada, firearms were used in over 40 per cent of homicides in Canada in 2019. This violence must stop,” states a press release from February 16 on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s website.
A two-year amnesty period is in place, which began in May of 2020, to last until April 30, 2022. The goal of the amnesty period is to “protect lawful owners from criminal liability and to enable them to comply with the law,” according to the press release.
The buy-back program is voluntary; those in possession of weapons eligible for buy-back will be able to keep them past the amnesty period but they won’t be able to fire, transport, or pass them on to a new owner. Canadians could hope a new administration will reverse the ban and allow them to retain possession of their firearms.
If Bill C-21 cannot be passed before the next election, it will have to be dropped and reintroduced after the election by the new administration. Trudeau campaigned on stricter gun control in 2019.
“One Canadian killed by gun violence is one too many. The tragedies we have seen in Sainte-Foy and Portapique, and more recently in Toronto and Montreal, should never happen. This is why our government has taken some of the strongest action in our country’s history against gun violence,” Trudeau stated in a press release in February.
But some are questioning whether this current policy is a genuine attempt to achieve stronger gun control, and whether the Liberals intend to pass it before the next election.
One such person is James Hanna, one of the founders and president of the Concordia University Sports Shooting Association (CUSSA) and a Concordia Student Union (CSU) councillor. He is opposed to the buy-back program and the May 1 ban.
“They’re basically doing a giant PR stunt before the election. That’s my personal theory … it allows them to claim victory without actually doing anything on the ground,” said Hanna.
Many people on both sides of the gun debate see the buy-back program as a policy that will be ineffective and simply a piece of electioneering. For anti-gun advocates, the policy allows too many firearms to remain in circulation.
Meaghan Hennegan was injured in a shooting at Dawson College in 2006. She was recently quoted in a press release by PolySeSouvient, “The reason we applauded the Liberals during the last election and told Canadians they are the best party for gun control is because their promise included a total ban. That is why we endorsed them. […] We were used and betrayed.”
Even if the guns can’t be operated legally, the concern on both sides of the issue has always been to crack down on illegal gun use. Some people on the pro-gun side think the best way to do this is to turn the issue to gangs and gang violence rather than gun control.
“We want to look at the source of all this gun violence, which is gang violence, and if we’re targeting gang violence … this is going to have much more holistic positive effects,” said Hanna.
Bill C-21 will also allow municipalities to regulate handgun usage as they see fit, which is another controversial part of the legislation. Those living in areas where handguns are banned could simply travel to somewhere with looser regulations, purchase a gun and return home with it.
“They’re jettisoning responsibility off to the municipalities. So if gun crime continues to rise, the government can just say, ‘Well, we gave municipalities the power to fix it. They’re not using it, it’s not our fault’ and just absolve themselves of responsibility for any issues,” said Hanna.
Bill C-21 will also increase the maximum penalties for firearms trafficking, and provide $250 million over five years to anti-gang programming in municipalities and Indigenous communities throughout Canada.
In-person classes are allowed again… but is that what students want?
On Feb. 2, the Quebec government announced universities could begin to reopen gradually, encouraging students to get back in the classroom.
Quebec’s guidelines for higher education specific to COVID-19 currently state that “Since February 8, 2021, educational institutions must ensure that all students are able to access in-person educational activities several times a month, ideally once a week.”
Despite this improvement on the education front, the province-wide curfew and restrictions on gatherings in private homes are continuing, with some exceptions.
Universities have been holding the majority of classes online since the pandemic’s first wave began last spring. Exceptions have been made for students who need to take part in essential in-person activities, such as labs or studio work.
An email sent out to the Concordia student body from the office of the Provost said “What the government has announced are orientations, not directives. It goes without saying that Concordia would like to see campus life return to ‘pre-pandemic normal’ as soon as public health conditions permit.” The university will continue to evaluate public health conditions against what in person activities they already offer before making a large-scale return to in-person activity.
Evaluating whether or not it is the appropriate time is difficult. While COVID-19 case numbers have been trending down in the province, there is a large amount of speculation that international variants of the virus have found their way to Montreal.
There is also the question of how students feel right now. Many students don’t feel safe returning to classes.
“I wouldn’t feel safe because in Montreal I live with a host family. So if I do bring the virus home that would be like, not good for me … For my course at least I don’t see any advantage in having in-person, only some classes, let’s say group work and things like that,” said Natalia Ferraz de Camargo, a second-year international student who is currently located in Brazil.
But it’s not just international students who may not be able to take advantage of new in-person activity. Students who are immunocompromised or live with someone who is will have to seriously consider whether they can take advantage of returning to class.
“You have to listen to your conscience and ask yourself, am I going in because I really want to and it’s going to make me feel good, [is it] the best thing for the people around me? Especially if you have people in your life who are immunocompromised or older, you might not want to take that risk,” said Ebby Crowe, a first-year student in Child Studies.
However, there are students who feel fine about returning to school.
“I don’t think I would have a problem regarding the COVID situation to go back to classes… As long as everyone is wearing masks and two meters apart it’s basically the same as being back at work,” said Mahoor Ramzirezaei, a graduate diploma student in Communications Studies.
For many students, the timing of the announcement is also an issue. For many out-of-province and international students who chose to stay home for the semester, it’s hard to hear that suddenly classes could be available, five weeks into the semester.
“If I knew that it was going to be in person like before the semester even started I would go back for sure. But now, like, if they tell me ‘oh it’s in person,’ I don’t want to go back,” said Ferraz de Camargo.
Concordia won’t be making any of the new in-person activities mandatory, and students located outside of Montreal are not being told they need to flock back to the city.
If the doors to Concordia and other universities are going to open, some students don’t think that classes are the first place to start.
“I’m thinking about the counselling services … There are so many students who are waiting to be put on the list and I know that you have to email them and hope to god there’s a spot available,” said Crowe.
It’s important to remember that last March, classes weren’t the only thing that went online. Most of Concordia’s university services remain online or require online booking. This new government ordinance could be an opportunity to gradually open up student services on campus and make them more accessible before we worry about flooding classrooms one day a week.
Despite universities having the option to host in-person classes and declining COVID cases, a large-scale return to class still seems to be a long way off. But, in response to these new governmental orders, Concordia has said they are “working to organize social and/or extra-curricular activities, such as spaces for networking and team meetings, that would allow you to gather with peers on campus at a safe distance, should you wish.”
