Opinions

It's time for the Concordia Student Union to reach out and get closer to its constituency. And for once, it the primary tool should not be politics. The unions of the past few years have attempted to bring students together through political actions on noble objectives like tuition freezes and awareness of global issues.

This is not a good time for social services, particularly public education. Teachers in British Columbia and the B.C. government are staring each other down in a dispute over cost cutting measures. Alberta teachers have just begun the largest strike ever to hit that province.

The latest twist in the CSU election tragedy (in the sense of a Greek tragedy) has lessons for everybody. The university administration usually shies away from commenting or acting on the political meandering of the student union, but two weeks ago it decided enough was enough and held CSU money in trust until the winner of the election is in office.

Our beleaguered student union is heading farther and farther into unchartered territory with the latest decision of the CSU judicial board. It seems that all the time we spent lining up at polling stations was a complete waste. The judicial board's decisions were both moderate and radical at once.

Lately, I have noticed that there are more and more people are becoming disgruntled and frustrated with the university administration and its policies. We are surrounded by a university administration that obviously does not know how to deal with its prime customers, the students.

Utter chaos. Those are the first two words in Chief Electoral Officer Jessica Lajambe's report on last November's student union elections. Aptly so. Those of you who hoped that a new year would bring about new faces in student politics are undoubtedly disappointed: we got new faces, just not the ones we thought we were getting.

When the Quebec government made a $1-billion funding promise at the Quebec Youth Summit in February 2000, the student groups invited to participate in the discussions were mildly optimistic that the promise would be kept. Meanwhile, the youth groups that were left outside the conference centre were downright convinced that Quebec would not pull through.

As Concordians brace for the arrival of posters and rallies in time for the upcoming elections, we should consider getting out of the habit of ignoring student election campaigns. This year, dissatisfaction with the outgoing union executive sparked a huge outcry from current Concordia students and alumni alike.

After years of tolerating the draining of precious funds to Concordia student groups, the university is trying its…

On Sept. 26, 2001, the CSU held its General Assembly in the Hall Building. One of the hot…

Tuition hikes for foreign students have been de rigueur at Concordia for the past few years. Last month,…

Well the midterm season has hit most of us full-force now, and it’s time to start grading performances.…