Category: letters to the editor

Your average flavourless, stuck up, JMSB student paints, draws, sings, and does photography in their free time.

Your average flavourless, stuck up, JMSB student goes to competitions representing John Molson in improvisational acting, silly sports like inner tube waterpolo, and volunteering.

Your average flavourless, stuck up, JMSB student is struggling in comm 217.

Your average flavourless, stuck up, JMSB student sometimes chooses to wear a Zara blazer, but also sometimes choses leggings… Sometimes a t-shirt from Winners, sometimes really high heels, sometimes really worn out converse.

You might realize you’re a lot like the average flavourless, stuck up, JMSB student.

You don’t know me; you don’t know the other 8,515 students that make up JMSB.

You see the colour of people’s skin, the clothes they chose to wear, the way they walk, the designer bags they hold. But people are so much more than what you see.

Some people’s clothes are actually not their identity, like they are for you.

Today in politics we’re seeing people pushing to divide, pushing to discriminate. People are being categorized based on their religion, their race, the way they look, the things they wear.

How can you say you are an artist, yet be so closed minded and willing to put a label on an entire institution based solely off your short experience? I feel sorry for you, that you feel the need to put others down in order to get across the point that maybe business wasn’t for you, or you didn’t try to make it for you. I feel sorry for you that you chose to see only the negative.

By insulting JMSB as a whole, you are trying to take away from the people who ARE passionate about accounting. The people who ARE able to be creative in MIS, finance, and marketing. Because of one bad teacher you had in business communications, you’re putting down a class where I met one of my favorite professors, someone who pushed our entire class to be creative in presentations.

Honestly, I hate accounting.

I can’t memorize a textbook if my life depended on it.

I have a hard time applying myself in classes I’m not passionate about, like finance.

My experience at JMSB has been so much more than the disinterested profs I’ve had, the classes I’ve struggled in, the stuck up people I’ve walked by in the lobby.

I’ve chose to focus on the positive, and that is where we differ.

You chose to think of materialism and greed when you walk through those “heavy glass doors.” I chose to think of opportunities to change business, so it isn’t materialism and greed.

We all go to the same university, and maybe I’m naïve, but I think that instead of trying to push each other down, we should try to help each other grow, and encourage each other to pursue what we’re passionate about.

-Olivia Szczerbickyj

Read the mentioned article here: https://theconcordian.com/2016/03/the-flavourless-flavour-of-business-school/

We’ve never met, but I know you’ve been receiving a lot of backlash from the JMSB community as a result of your article. As a finance student myself, I cannot say that I agree with your opinion, but I can at the very least respect your right to voice it. Some of the reactions I’ve seen are not just unsubstantiated, but downright hateful. I am hopeful that you can believe me in saying that, the voices of the few, the intolerant and incoherent, are not indicative of the true nature of our school. So before providing my own opinion, I’d like to apologize on their behalf.

That being said, I have been involved in JMSB school life in every facet you can imagine. Your article paints an unflattering generalization of the school… and whether or not your aim was to present a commentary on the institution, it’s a direct reflection on myself as well. By condemning the school, you inherently condemn those that have chosen to study there by projecting that image on them. We are not all the person depicted in your article.

Objectively, there is an element of truth in what you’ve said. However, I simply cannot agree with the way you’ve elected to say it. The Concordian, as I interpreted it, was intended to promote a positive message of diversity and equality. Yet, after reading your piece, I can only feel discriminated against… the same way perhaps you felt during your time at JMSB. You’ve taken an unfortunately vindictive angle on an otherwise powerful message, and as a result that message has been lost. I am truly disappointed in The Concordian’s willingness to run a piece with such a targeted, and negative undertone.

The stereotypes you’ve presented, in terms of attire, conformism, lack of creativity, and mindless capitalism, are not only superficial but also utterly lazy. If you want to paint an accurate picture of JMSB, I encourage you to look beyond the suit. It is not that business school is without flavour, it’s that you don’t like the taste.

-Paul Santache

Read the mentioned article here: https://theconcordian.com/2016/03/the-flavourless-flavour-of-business-school/

My name is Melina Ghio, ex-vice president of finance, ex-independent councillor, ex-interim president, and current CEO for a Member Association for the Arts and Science Federation of Associations. I would like to express my warmest regards to all candidates willing to work on next year’s Executive team for ASFA—it takes a specific type of courage to brave these turbulent waters, especially given everything “the ASFA ship” has been going through.

It is truly heartwarming to see individuals I met at last year’s MA Retreat (where different association executives are given the chance to learn about ASFA and bond—sorry again, math and stats!) run for ASFA’s Exec. This kind of commitment shows how much energy and vigor there is left in the association, and how wrong anyone is to think that ASFA is dying, sinking, or whatever else has been said about it over the past year. If two or three individuals can taint ASFA for the worst, surely two or three other individuals can help shape it for the better.

Last year, I had the chance to meet Rachel Rammal, who is running for VP academic and Loyola, and I know she will do wonderfully given the chance. Good luck Rachel!

I also had the opportunity to meet and work with Andrea Krasznai, who is currently running for president. Having gotten to know Andrea a little more, I would like to spend some time letting Arts and Science students know why I support her.

Andrea has worked hard as president of the German Association, and she has also gotten to know ASFA through her work as council secretary. As far as representing an Arts and Science student, she fits the bill. She has an incredible work ethic, she balances school and employment, and she is committed to the wellbeing of those around her. She has the organizational skills to run such a demanding position, as I believe she has proven by juggling so much this past year. And more than anything, she will help keep ASFA on the track that students want to see.

So, students of ASFA, please come out and vote April 6-7-8. If you are not convinced, find these individuals’ profiles on Facebook. Ask them questions! Trust me, you will not regret getting to know them. I am confident they can win your support.

-Melina Ghio

When I first became the Women’s Studies Undergraduate Student Association (WSSA) councillor to ASFA council I was warned that I would either have to be ready for a fight or chose to distance myself from the proceedings for my emotional sanity. The aims of WSSA, which has placed its focus on intersectionality and direct democracy, were at odds with many of the other associations within ASFA. But I was determined to go in with fresh eyes, it was a representative body and not an individual, it’s members changed year to year, surely people who had chosen to dedicate their time to student organizing could be open to discussion and criticism? In that I wasn’t entirely wrong, I met many dedicated students who took their role as their student associations representatives seriously and worked for their students interests very actively. But what I observed was that in the minds of many of the councillors and executives ASFA had become something of a political party that knew better than the students what they wanted or required. Instead of acknowledging what a privilege it was to be entrusted with student money and advocating for its students it came to be understood that we were the dedicated few whose opinions mattered because we did the leg work. It became clear that this had been the operating procedure for a while, as individuals came forward with motions and proposals from their students, only to have them shot down because of how it might make ASFA look. If the feelings in the room leaned in one direction, councillors would aggressively use their knowledge of the by-laws to try and have it tabled, go to a sub committee, or be dismissed entirely. Reform can take a long time and anyone who works with social justice will be familiar with the struggle, but why would you actively seek creating that structure? To be more financially viable to get corporate funding? We are not the federal, provincial, or municipal government. We have the opportunity to create a different structure that is more inclusive; we can be on the ground and we don’t have to exist in a vacuum. It is ridiculous to think that one individual will ever completely represent hundreds of students, but we need to try and to do that we need that focus to be always on students. That means encouraging dissent and discussion and being open to it. Having a voice shouldn’t be limited to those students who have the time to play parliament and sink hours into finding a loopholes to fight those whose only interest is to obstruct them. It might appear that the present structure brings MA’s together, but often they are together in uneasy partnerships. There have been many efforts this year to address these concerns and towards renewing the integrity of ASFA, but the body itself remains broken. We need significant change and investing more power in individual MA’s is a great place to start.

 

-Natasha Melbrew, Finance coordinator and councillor, last year’s VP external and councillor

The reality of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations belies its name. Rather than being a true federation that offers support to its member associations and allocate their funding, ASFA is a top-down dysfunctional organization. Not only does it restrict the autonomy of its member association, but it also does not work!

Anyone who has been involved on their respective association executive team knows and now sadly expects the struggle of getting anything done with ASFA, which can be extremely problematic in the case of funding activities. In one instance, the Liberal Arts Society has waited over five months for a cheque requisition.

Last year, no executive was elected at the occasion of the general elections, leading to the appointment of an interim executive, most of which had resigned by the end of the summer. In the fall, we elected a new slate that promised to bring radical change to ASFA. Despite their efforts, and some welcome improvements, ASFA remains the same, unless if we vote yes in the upcoming referendum. Since the fall, several executive resigned, the office manager resigned; in one year, we have had three successive VP finance, and long intervals without one. This is revealing of a pattern of dysfunctions that cannot just be patched up but needs to be addressed structurally.

The restructuration proposal brought to referendum will not solve every single issues at ASFA, but some changes need to be done, and this is a necessary step in the right direction. A reduced executive with clearer mandates and not bogged down by the organization of events will allow to reshape ASFA into what it should be: a funding body and a provider of institutional knowledge and support for the student association of the Arts and Science. The member associations are the best suited to cater to the needs of the students of their departments, and this proposal goes some way into turning ASFA back to real federation.

Please vote on March 16, 17 and 18!
Aloyse Muller, president of the Liberal Arts Society.

We, the ASFA executive and board of directors are writing this letter to sincerely apologize to Mei Ling—on behalf of any student involved in ASFA past or present—for creating a racially and sexually oppressive environment during her time in office.

Mei Ling experienced multiple levels of discrimination and harassment because ASFA has contributed to an unsafe environment, ruining her engagement with student life. Her integrity and self-esteem have been hurt due to ASFA which is unacceptable. We regret that these experiences deterred her from exploring other facets of student life at Concordia.

The Federation takes full responsibility for allowing these actions to happen and we will begin rectifying the situation by distancing ourselves from those who perpetuate a racist or sexist culture in our community. We will be providing consent, harm reduction, and anti-oppression trainings to all students and employees who hold a position of power within ASFA. We will be creating a task force on sexual violence and racism with a mandate to review the school’s sexual assault policies and to create awareness and educational campaigns around these issues. We will also ensure that the university administration treat this issue with the utmost importance and regret that they have not yet issued a public apology for the lack of support they provided her.

To Mei Ling: Because you have spoken up about your experiences you have given other survivors the courage to speak up about theirs. We would like to thank you for having the bravery that this took and for initiating culture change not only on our campus but on campuses across the province. We promise to continue reforming our spaces, processes, and attitudes to repair the damage created by systemic racism and sexism within the federation and the university and sincerely apologize to you for our past inaction.

Sincerely,

All members of the Arts and Science Student Federation of Associations

Last August, Concordia University’s administration released the Report of the Sexual Assault Policy Review Working Group, which outlines plans to address sexual violence within the Concordia community. The Working Group was set up in Fall 2014 by university president Alan Shepard to review the university’s overall actions against sexual assault.

While the report represents a laudable step forward on the part of the university to confront a persistent problem, it falls short in some key areas.

Like other university reports on the issue, the report affirms a clear vision. “Behaviours commonly associated with rape culture, such as victim blaming, normalizing sexual objectification and violence, are absolutely unacceptable in the Concordia community. As such, sexual violence violates our institutional values, in particular the rights of individuals … to be treated with dignity and respect,” said the report.

 

It refers to Ontario’s definition of sexual violence in its “Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives: Ontario Sexual Violence Plan,” as, “any violence, physical or psychological, carried out through sexual means or by targeting sexuality.”

Concordia’s report features key policy and procedural changes applying to all members of the university and amendments to the Code of Rights and Responsibilities to include community events held off campus. The report includes streamlining processes and increasing education.

To gage the scope and relevance of this report we should consider the well-publicized “Mei Ling” case. A biracial student executive was told by Concordia administration they could not help her after she faced ongoing racial and sexual harassment at the Arts and Science Federation Association. How does this report address a case like hers?

First, although the report refers to “the rights of individuals in our university community to be treated with dignity and respect,” key concepts such as human rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are absent.

The report fails to address sexual violence from the perspective of human rights law, which guarantees the right to be protected against discrimination and harassment based on gender, race and sexual orientation, among others; the right to life and security and the right to dignity and integrity of the person.  In this regard, sexual violence is a violation of the Criminal Code, and human rights legislation.

Secondly, the report lacks intersectionality. While it acknowledges “the various needs and realities of our diverse community,” it fails to adequately address the connection of sexual violence to other forms of oppression and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, aboriginal status, sexual orientation or disability. The diversity at Concordia is not represented within the working group or recommendations, which risks making sexual violence an issue of middle-class, able-bodied white women.

Thirdly, reports from other universities and authorities such as The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault advocates for increased transparency from administration by releasing public reports about sexual violence and a shifting to survivor-centered and trauma-centered approaches in supporting survivors.

If sexual violence is tackled from these three angles, “Mei Ling”—and all women—will be better protected.

-executive director Fo Niemi and community organizer Brandy deGaia

Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations demands that Concordia University’s faculty members and administration drop all charges against students facing expulsion, that they allow our students to protest in the upcoming strikes without legal or academic consequences, and that article 29G of “Concordia’s Code of Rights and Responsibilities” be amended to reflect the students democratic right to strike.

In April 2015 when students of ASFA’s member associations gathered together in general assemblies to strike against austerity and its detrimental effects on their education, they were asserting the legitimacy of their political bodies. Members of faculty and the administration used this as an opportunity to silence the voices of those who were trying to defend their education by using ‘Concordia’s Code of Rights and Responsibilities’ against them. However, our member associations democratically voted to hold a hard picket line in front of every classroom in the departments that were on strike, something the faculty was made aware of. Students are now facing tribunals and the fear of expulsion, an oppressive tactic carried out to discourage future strikes.

When students are punished for carrying through a democratic mandate it is an obvious affront to their rights and political discrimination. Austerity is not an economic necessity it is a political choice. The faculty and administration are clearly making a political statement when they take legal action toward the students who are speaking out against cuts to the public sector.

Despite these injustices students are still choosing to protest against these neo-liberal attacks on our University and all academic institutions across the province. The faculty should be protesting alongside them because these cuts affect them and every other level at Concordia. Instead of support, there have been reported physical threats by faculty towards our students who have once again legitimately voted to be picketing in classrooms in the upcoming weeks.

Austerity measures have taken a toll on the entirety of the public sector, all aspects of our educational institutions included. In light of the seriousness and depth of these attacks it is worth understanding what we stand to lose and what future generations stand never to have in the first place. Students in the humanities are facing a job market that barely allows for them to use their degrees in any way. Grad schools in Quebec and the rest of Canada have fewer seats and a lower quality of education today compared to a decade ago. Due to cuts in government subsidized services, it has become nearly impossible for self-reliant students from all walks of life to fully immerse themselves in their studies only allowing for the financially stable to have the chance to show their full potential at school and be part of academic discourse. These are just a few ways students are affected by budget cuts.

Professors are forced to take on growing classes without teaching assistants and larger workloads for the same pay or less because many teachers were pressured to leave. Those coming into the job market will also find little opportunities for employment. These are just a few ways professors are affected by budget cuts. Students all over Quebec have noticed how their education is lacking in quality due to lack of funding and it’s time the school’s faculty and administrators acknowledge this as well.

It is for all these reasons above that ASFA is calling on the faculty to drop the charges and threat of expulsion that are facing our students.  ASFA stands in solidarity with its member associations and the students of FASA, one of our fellow faculty associations, as well as the students of UQAM who are also facing similar oppressive measures carried out by key players in their university. We are calling on the faculty and administration to support our member associations’ strike mandates, to act in the interest of students education and support the fight against austerity.

-ASFA president Jenna Cocullo