Tag: Concordia fee levy

Categories
Concordia Student Union News

Concordia’s online fee-levy opt-outs delayed to Winter 2021

Concordia administration plans to disregard some recommendations made by fee-levy groups

Concordia University’s online fee-levy opt-out system is delayed until January 2021, with the administration looking to implement changes that veers away from recommendations made by fee-levy groups, which are student-run organizations funded by the student population at large.

Concordia Student Union (CSU) Student Life Coordinator Eduardo Malorni, who is currently communicating with the administration regarding the new system, told The Concordian two of the six recommendations made by fee-levy groups will not be followed as written, with “four of them being followed more or less.”

Fee-levy organizations are elected by students through a CSU referendum to receive funding from the student population. The organizations provide a variety of different services for students, including food services like free meals and groceries; environmental, gender and advocacy centers; and student media organizations like The Concordian, The Link, and CJLO. They are not clubs, but function independently from the CSU. The majority of groups charge less than $0.40 per credit. 

Last year, the CSU held a referendum on the implementation of an online opt-out system. A majority 61.1 per cent of the student population voted in favour of a system that would be “created in consultation with all fee-levy organizations,” according to the “Fee-Levy Consultation Report.” The report was drafted by a CSU committee as per mandated by the referendum.

The fee-levy organizations outlined six recommendations for the online opt-out process.

According to Malorni, the first recommendation rejected by the Concordia administration is that students be required to read comprehensive descriptions of the groups they want to opt out of before being presented with a legal letter describing exactly which services they are agreeing to lose. For example, if a student wants to opt out of paying fees for People’s Potato, they will first need to read a description of its mandate and services, followed by a legal letter confirming the loss of said services, i.e. free meals and emergency food baskets.

“This process will exist for every group in order to give them a fair chance to showcase what they do and provide to the Concordia community,” reads the recommendation in the report.

Instead, the administration plans to implement a system that provides a general legal letter that applies to all fee-levy groups. Malorni said the letter would be presented before students even select which groups they want to opt out of and before they have the chance to read their descriptions.

The second recommendation Concordia University plans not to follow, according to Malorni, is that every fee-levy group description should include “an external link to learn even more about the group.”

“[Concordia] said they did not feel comfortable having links going outside of the Concordia domain,” said Malorni.

The link would only work if the group was on the Concordia University domain. There is no information as of yet if the administration will create or update existing webpages for each fee-levy group on the Concordia website.

According to Malorni, the groups will also have “only a few paragraphs” to describe what their organization does for the Concordia community, rather than the comprehensive descriptions requested by fee-levy groups.

Malorni will bring up these stipulations during a CSU council meeting next Wednesday, in which it will be determined whether “council still feels comfortable moving forward … knowing that the recommendations they specified aren’t 100 per cent being followed.”

Malorni told The Concordian the next CSU council meeting will be on Sept. 16. Fee-levy group members are encouraged to come to the council meeting to discuss their concerns.

A controversial process

The former General Coordinator Christopher Kalafatidis ran for CSU council on the “Cut the Crap” slate that included the online fee-levy opt-out system in 2019.

The “Fee Levy Consultation Report” was presented by Kalafatidis, who was now a councillor, in a CSU council meeting on June 10. A majority voted to have the university’s administration develop the online opt-out system.

Several fee-levy groups said they felt the consultation process with the CSU was insufficient.

Emma Campbell, Internal Coordinator of the Concordia Food Coalition, expressed concern about a system that does not provide sufficient information about what fee-levy organizations do.

“Ethical responsibility towards other students may be removed if students are able to go in and click all of the fee-levies that they want to be removed from without necessarily knowing what the fee-levies do or how this will impact other students,” Campbell said, citing the weekly emergency food baskets provided to Concordia students by groups such as the Concordia Food Coalition, Frigo Vert, and People’s Potato.

“I also fully understand students who are extremely financially strapped and who need to opt out for these very real and personal reasons that affect many disadvantaged students,” added Campbell.

In May, CSU councillor Margot Berner received a slew of documents revealing Kalafatidis had begun the opt-out system with the administration long before he consulted with fee-levy groups.

Berner accused Kalafatidis of not doing enough to include the input of fee-levy groups.

“I think that the content of those emails showed that the fee-levies were not as involved in the process as establishing online opt-out as Chris was leading everyone to believe,” said Berner. “I think it was a failure to do the work that he was mandated to do.”

Kalafatidis said he was only having conversations with the university because he claims the administration “might have gone ahead and created the system without my input.” He added that he gave the fee levy groups “weeks” to fulfill the consultation process, which took the form of a CSU survey distributed via Google Docs.

“I think there was more than enough input. We created, I think it was a 40-60 page document, containing the input of every fee-levy group that contacted the CSU,” said Kalafaditis on whether he sufficiently consulted the fee-levies. The “Fee Levy Consultation Report” was 44 pages.

“We actually used the feedback to heavily modify the online opt-out system proposal,” said Kalafaditis.

Francella Fiallos, station manager at CJLO, Concordia University’s campus radio station, said she was disappointed with the consultation process.

“They had a detailed plan as to how the online opt-out process would look well before fee-levy groups were even talked to, so it just showed that the consultation was not even going to be respected,” said Fiallos on the documents Berner brought to light.

“We submitted our concerns of having a formal consultation process replaced by a Google Doc,” Fiallos continued. “That report kind of doesn’t really have an accurate comprehensive view of how fee-levy groups feel.”

For the fall, fee-levy organizations have agreed to implement the same opt-out procedure they had during the summer, which required students to contact the groups they wish to opt out of directly.

Categories
News

Online opt-out discussions began without consulting fee-levy groups, documents reveal

Disclosure: The Concordian is a fee-levy group

The CSU had maintained that it would consult with fee-levy groups to implement an online opt-out system

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Concordia administration began development of the online opt-out system before consulting with fee-levy groups, newly-surfaced emails reveal. 

Conversations between CSU General Coordinator Chris Kalafatidis and Dean of Students Andrew Woodall date as far back as December 2019, despite the CSU’s promise to develop the opt-out system in consultation with fee-levy groups. The groups were not consulted until months later.

Students voted in favour of the online opt-out system in a referendum last November. The new opt-out system would no longer require students to contact each individual fee-levy organization in order to retract their shares.

One of several requests made through Kalafatidis’s emails was the addition of  a “check-box” feature, which would enable students to click on the groups they do not wish to support. Other requests included a limited selection period and a record of opt-outs that could be accessed by fee-levy groups.

Fee-levy organizations such as The Concordian, The Link, CJLO, Sustainable Concordia, and People’s Potato receive most, if not all, of their funding from student fees. Most groups charge less than 0.40ȼ per credit. 

“Moving the system online makes it impartial,” said a Sustainable Concordia employee in an interview last November. “It makes people make hasty decisions that they don’t understand the consequences of, and it shuts down the conversation before it even starts.”

Many groups perceive online opt-outs as a threat to their survival and, in turn, the well-being of students.

“Online opt-out … has destroyed organizations that students have spent years building,” said the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) in a statement. “With that, fee levies have been working to help all our students, particularly those in financially precarious positions.”

News of the correspondence between the CSU and the administration surfaced through a Facebook post made by CSU Councillor Margot Berner. The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

According to Berner, Kalafatidis failed to obtain approval from the council before contacting the administration.

“The council is the decision making body of the Union,” wrote Berner. “Executives are supposed to execute those decisions. Not take it upon themselves to pitch their own ideas to the admin.”

Kalafatidis told The Link yesterday that he was mandated to speak to the administration as soon as the referendum passed. He said that only non-negotiable aspects were discussed.

“I was firm that these were only ‘immediate asks’ and not the final recommendation,” he said.

Woodall had asked Kalafatidis to confirm that no formal demands had yet been made in an email sent December 20.

“Clearly, the way that you conduct the consultation will be important and, without stepping into territory that isn’t my business, I urge you to spend some good effort on this,” he wrote.

Online opt-outs are to be implemented in September 2020.

Update: The emails between Chris Kalafatidis and the Concordia administration were discussed in a CSU council meeting last week. A motion to keep the original September timeline for the launch of the online opt-out system was tabled indefinitely. 

 

 

 

Archive graphic by Le Lin.

Categories
News

Fee levy members kicked out from council meeting due to fire hazards

A coalition of 40 people representing fee levy groups were forced to wait in JMSB hallways after the CSU booked 34-person room 

More than 40 people from various fee levy groups were kicked out of the CSU council meeting by Concordia security as the student union’s executive team only booked a 34-person capacity meeting room. 

The fee levy group members were gathered in solidarity as they demanded the CSU properly consult fee levy groups about the implementation of online opt-outs. Fee levy group members allege that the CSU have started working on the project without conducting proper consultations. The CSU set in place an ad hoc committee to start working on the online opt-out procedures earlier this year. An email from to book consultation sessions with the CSU was sent to fee levy groups on Feb. 5.

Switching to online opt outs could mean a massive reduction in funding for fee levy groups.

CSU meetings usually hold around 40 individuals–30 councillors, eight executive members, one chairperson, one minute keeper and the student media. This already breaches the 34-person maximum set by Concordia security for this room.

Members were allowed to peek through the doors as the motion was discussed.

“It’s bullshit,” said Paul Baloukas, an intern at Concordia’s radio station, CJLO 1690AM. “It’s ridiculous making us wait outside when they’re discussing something about us.”

A Concordia security officer yelled for people to exit as the exceeding number of people was a “fire hazard.” There were roughly 70 people in the room at the time.

“We got kicked out because of a fire hazard, which makes total sense,” said Danny Gold, a DJ at CJLO. “But 34 people seems small for that room.”

For the majority of fee levy group members gathered at the meeting, their groups offer opportunities to put in practice what students learn in class. Philippe l’Espérance, a CJLO radio host,  said online opt-outs could put at harm those opportunities.

“For some people, it’s a way to get experience journalistically outside of class,” L’Espérance said. “For others, it’s also a medium to live their passion.”

Those asked to leave the meeting were asked to stay around the JMSB’s 14th floor near the room where the council meeting was held.

Editor’s note: The Concordian is a fee levy group, but did not participate in the solidarity gathering present at this meeting.

 

Photo by Jad Abukasm

Categories
Arts

FEATURE: People, innovation, or bricks, mortar and art stacked in a corner?

Happening in and around the White Cube this week… digging into the world of art & finance at Concordia and beyond

“If culture is valuable, culture works should be valued the same way, not just verbally,” said Marc Lanctôt, curator and Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (MAC) union delegate.

According to an article in The New York Times, “wealthy donors are generally happy to contribute to construction projects – often drawn by naming opportunities – they are far less excited about subsidizing unsexy operating expenses, like salaries and benefits.”

Public spreadsheets that document and protest unpaid internships and unfair wages in the industry currently include over 4,000 entries from museum professionals all over the world, including Montreal.

The MAC is among the six Montreal-based entries on the spreadsheet. There are two active unions at the MAC, one of which is for front-of-house staff and educators. The other is for professionals: conservators, curators, education tour managers and workshop leaders, registrar’s office, art transportation, collections management, communications and press relations, etc.

MAC Pros striking during their break. Photo by Cecilia Piga.

The employees at the MAC were under a common agreement (like a contract) which expired in 2015, although the conditions are still applicable today and provisions in the contract are still applied. However, there have been no financial changes, no pay increases since 2015 and certain provisions no longer pertain to the reality on the ground. Their bosses have no incentives to make any changes.

Their employers are keeping that money, spending it on renovations and increasing their own salaries. Simply put, Lanctôt suggests the museum should not “spend on what we can’t afford if we can’t pay our people right.” He added that John Zeppetelli, MAC Director and Chief Curator, is “acting like his hands are tied, that he isn’t really the director of the museum, the government is.”

This is a multi-tiered problem […] how we organize work and labour needs to be rethought,” said Lanctôt.

“We want salary increases comparable to those granted to our bosses over the past five years,” wrote @prosdumacmontreal on Instagram on Oct. 6. The affected workers have been actively protesting since Sept. 17, doing public interventions and striking on their breaks and during peak museum hours, such as the Janet Werner opening on Oct. 30.

“We have nine more strike days up our sleeve that will be deployed at strategic times,” said Lanctôt. “Everything that has to do with culture in Quebec and Canada is highly accountable to the state and public funding, very arcane. Issues are bogged down in complicated spreadsheets and legal labour language. We don’t want the public to lose track of what’s a stake; we have to stop gauging away at cultural workers. It’s the people that matter. Otherwise, it’s just bricks and mortar and art stacked in a corner.”

The Art + Museum Transparency group has stated that “many of the most vigilant and vocal activists in the current movement are those working front-of-house positions […] gallery security officers, education, retail and visitor services staff.” These labour activists are fighting the institution’s growth, urging cuts of unnecessary expenses and “fancy” renovations in favour of protection from unjust firing, basic healthcare insurance coverage, paid parental leave, and so on.

“Pas de pros, pas d’expos!”

“Museums remain extremely hierarchical, with power concentrated in the hands of a very few who dictate benefits, wages and workplace procedures out of step with the economic realities of our time,” reads the same statement by the Art + Museum Transparency group.

Museum staff are unionizing across the United States with the Marciano Art Foundation Union (MAF), and continue to prove the viability of the field, urging institutions to embrace Graduate and Undergraduate student internships instead of pushing them out, forcing them to consider otherwise.

At Concordia, the VAV Gallery has just released its 2019-20 Year Plan. It discloses their financial constraints by breaking down their budget and emphasizing the measures being taken to remedy the issue. The slow, accumulated deficit was not noticeable in last year’s financial report. Dropping by big chunks every year due to the gallery’s ambitious developments, they were forced to downsize from last year’s programming.

This year, the VAV Gallery will host smaller shows, showing larger bodies of work from three or four artists, working one on one with them to create a tailored exhibition plan. The exhibitions – now numbered and not titled in order to avoid lumping artists together with broad themes – will be more cohesive, focusing on overlaps between individual practices.

Alexia McKindsey, the VAV’s financial coordinator, knew the decision would come as a shock to Concordia Fine Arts students, but the reality is that if these drastic measures aren’t taken, the gallery won’t be able to operate next year.

We never wanted it to come to this,” said McKindsey. “This is the worst case scenario.”

Having cancelled their winter artist call-out, three out of four Fine Arts students contacted by The Concordian, who have chosen to remain anonymous, said they would consider opting out of the VAV’s fee levy should it increase from $0.85 to $1 per credit.

“The gallery has already selected its programming for the entire year – why am I paying for something that is not giving me the opportunity to show my work?,” said one student, an Art Education major.

“Especially when last year’s programming was excellent, I see no reason why a top level fine arts undergrad university can’t have a student gallery that can offer the space for students to exhibit their work, attend events and be engaged in the Montreal arts scene,” said another student. The Studio Arts major said this in regards to the $5.6 million donation to the faculty from the Peter N. Thomson Family Trust, received last spring. “It feels like things are happening up top and the students don’t have a say, like an extension of Cafe X closing.”

The faculty received this incredible donation, but where is it? In the big hole where the VA garden used to be?

Despite last year’s incident – the tragic death of art education student and sweet child of the universe, Ming Mei Ip – there are still no basic services in the building.

No one cares about the VA. We are the smallest faculty and the most neglected building on campus,” said McKinsdey. “We don’t know enough about where our fee-levies go and how we benefit from them as students.”

FASA, we love you, we know you’re doing your best, but like, the Art + Museum Transparency group stated, these institutions – universities, museums and galleries alike – remain powerful hierarchical structures out of touch with the social and economic realities they are surrounded by.

According to McKindsey, the donation isn’t reaching the VAV Gallery or any other student-run, fee-levy projects. Concordia has a weird system when it comes to money. For anyone who has ever received an honorarium or has had to be reimbursed by the university, this isn’t new information.

Unlike the gallery’s transparency, the money donated to the university and specific faculties isn’t being disclosed to students. Rumours around student organizations is that it’s a cyclical system, hinting to a new, “innovative” project unfolding towards the end of the year.

Funding opportunities for student projects

The Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA) just released their Broke Student Handbook, which provides students with accessible and low-cost options for everything from art-making materials, funding opportunities, academic services and basic necessities.

Among these services are the Regroupement des Artistes en Arts Visuels (RAAV) and L’Artisan du Renouveau et de la Transformation Écologique (ARTÉ). RAAV is an association of artists that represent and defend the interests of Quebec artists. ARTÉ is an independent company mandated by the city of Montreal to manage the reuse centres.

Not many are aware of the numerous showcasing and funding opportunities available for student projects across the university. FASA Special Project Grants, the Concordia Council on Student Life (CCSL),  the Concordia University Small Grants Program (CUSGP), the Concordia University Alumni Association (CUAA), the Sustainability Action Fund and Concordia Student Union Special Project Funding are among the many programs that will encourage eligible student projects, new clubs, publications, events and more.

Showcasing platforms outside of the White Cube

Outside of student newspapers, Concordia is home to several publications. Some journals linked to various departments, like the InArte Journal, CUJAH and others offer free range to most students. Soliloquies, Yiara and l’Organe all offer a creative platform for writers and artists. Their difference lies in the language they are diffused in: l’Organe is in French, Yiara is bilingual and inter-university, and Soliloquies focuses on creative writing, poetry and prose, bringing together creative English-speaking students across the university.

A new addition to this list is Scribbles which, unlike Yiara and the InArte Journal which accept submissions from all departments within the Faculty of Fine Arts, will accept creative work from students across the university.

The magazine’s executive team doesn’t follow the typical publication masthead, similar to The Concordian’s editor/assistant structure. Instead, they have a president and various VPs and coordinators, characteristic of clubs within the John Molson School of Business (JMSB). That being said, the executive team is not restricted to JMSB students. Communications, behavioural neuroscience, software engineering and creative writing are among the team’s majors.

“In addition to our publications, we have the goal of informing students about the creative world by holding conferences with actual writers, journalists, artists and so on,” said Scribbles President Sara Shafiei, BComm Marketing.

The launch of the first publication took place on Oct. 30. Attendees paid $15, giving the magazine a head start.

“Guests were able to get their hands on a copy before anyone else and simply enjoy some food and music while celebrating with the team and getting to talk with other creative students,” said Shafiei. “We are brand new, don’t have many sponsors and are still growing as a committee. We received a small amount of funds from CSU which was barely enough to get our first edition printed. The event itself had costs, as hospitality also charged us. The tickets helped us fund the event. However, our magazine itself [is] free.”

Throughout the first weeks of November, Scribbles’s first issue will be placed around campus for students to pick up.

Interdepartmental and cross-faculty pollination is what makes our projects stronger, making voices louder, as students stand in solidarity as young creators and entrepreneurs.

Projects like Concordi’art – which claims to create a space for both fine arts and business students – really just focus on commercializing and capitalizing on pre-existing ideas. The group’s recent Bob Ross paint night at Reggies, which was sponsored by Concordia Stores, charged students $15 to paint along with a projection. They did not collaborate with the Department of Art Education, who would have been more than thrilled to assist. Concordi’art did not respond to The Concordian for comment.

The VAV Gallery is looking to collaborate with other departments and fee-levy groups for their winter programming. Among these are plans to coordinate a special exhibition with the Fine Arts Reading Room, the InArte Journal, CUCCR, Art Matters and more.

Clara Micheau, FASA Finance Coordinator and representative of the Faculty of Fine Arts for la Planète s’invite à l’Université (LPSU) at Concordia, posted on the Concordia Fine Arts Student Network Facebook page on Nov. 5, urging students to vote against online opt-outs in the upcoming CSU by-election (Nov. 12-14).

“Art Matters is not the only fee-levy group we are talking about here,” wrote Micheau. “People’s Potato is one, as is Queer Concordia, Cinema Politica, Food Coalition, Centre for Gender Advocacy, The Concordian and more. They all provide life-saving services to you or your friends or that student you don’t know but who has found their support group in them. They are everywhere, supporting our community.”

Fee-levy groups can offer superb opportunities to enhance careers and build reputable references, in any faculty. For more information and to encourage fee-levy groups, visit the Vote No Facebook Event.

 

 

Graphics by Chloë Lalonde (@ihooq2)

Categories
News

The conundrum of Concordia’s Online fee-levy opt-outs are back

The controversial topic of online fee-levy opt-outs is back, as discussions are being pushed by CSU General Coordinator Chris Kalafatidis, who is aiming to get it on a referendum.

Kalafatidis explained that the CSU bylaws allow any student to bring a question to a referendum. All that is needed is to present the question at a meeting, then the student must get 500 signatures from Concordia students. Once that is achieved the question automatically goes onto a referendum.

Kalafatidis requested online fee-levy opt-outs to be put on a referendum at the CSU meeting on Oct. 25.

“As General Coordinator, you have enough influence where you could just go ‘here’s a question council, pass this’ and it goes directly to a referendum,” Kalafatidis said. “Despite being in a position where I could have probably brought this referendum through council, I want to present it myself and get the signatures of 500 students.”

Kalafatidis believes that the effect of online opt-outs will be a positive one. The only thing fee-levy groups have to fear is that students will not know about them. Those that are more exclusionary will have the incentive to spread their services and be more open to students.

Yet, Emily Carson-Apstein, External & Campaigns Coordinator at Sustainable Concordia, was at the meeting as an opponent to Kalafatdis’ presentation. According to Carson-Apstein, online opt-outs will negatively impact fee-levies and the student culture they support.

“It’s really hypocritical for the General Coordinator to take on a project that is going to harm the community,” said Carson-Apstein. “These aren’t people picking and choosing groups. These are people who are opting out of everything without understanding what’s going on.”

Carson-Apstein argued that online opt-outs will defund fee-levy groups immensely. As an argument, she referred to McGill University implementation of online opt-outs as an example of the impact this decision would have on the Concorida student community.  According to the McGill Tribune, before 2007, opt-outs were relatively low. The Student Society of McGill University (SSMU), McGill’s version of Concordia’s CSU, had a 0.83 per cent opt-out rate for the Winter semester. But when online opt-out went up, by the next semester, SSMU’s opt-out rate went up to 6.45 per cent.

“The sad thing is that the opt-out numbers across the majority of the fees are consistent,” said SSMU Vice-President and Services Sarah Olle, in an interview with The McGill Tribune back in 2010. “So, I think what this indicates is that people who are opting out are usually blanket opting out.”

Carson-Apstein believes that opt-outs would defund fee-levy services. This will decrease student awareness of fee-levy’s and their benefits, which in turn will cause more students to opt-out, creating a vicious cycle of opt-outs and defunding.

“It’s not a political decision, it’s a financial decision that is uninformed on what these services can offer them,” Carson-Apstein said. “Many fee-levy groups have been created over decades to address student poverty.”

Carson-Apstein explains that while a student would save $50–$60 when they opt-out, if they take advantage of the services fee-levy’s offer, the student will save much more.

“If you go to the People’s Potato every day for a week, you’ve made that money up already,” Carson-Apstein said.

The McGill Tribune interview with Olle said that despite the fee-levy being different, the rate of students opting-out online didn’t change. Students consistently mass-opted-out no matter what the fee-levy provided or cost.

McGill’s Midnight Kitchen, Concordia’s version of the Peoples Potato, charges $3.35 a semester. It had almost the same rate of opt-outs as CKUT, who charge $5.00 a semester.

But as Kalafatidis presented during the meeting, if online opt-outs are implemented, all fee-levies will be conciliated to work towards a system that will benefit all sides and to make sure students know what they are opting out of. He used the People’s Potato as an example; students use it, are aware of it, and those that don’t use that service understand the importance of the People’s Potato, and refrain from opting out as to not take away free food, Kalafatidis said.

“Fee-levy groups never work towards building better relationships with students,” said Kalafatdis. “Having this option to opt-out would put them in a situation where if they are going to be using student money, they are going to have to earn it.”

Yet, Carson-Apstein is worried because once the referendum is counted, the final say will be with the Concordia University Administration.

“Once we put it in the hands of the university, the students won’t have control,” Carson-Apstein said, describing how Concordia websites are infamously hard to use and full of bugs. “If you think about how well Moodle and myConcordia work, the University is not going to make this easy.”

Online opt-outs are not imminent, but the groundwork is being laid. No matter which option students pick, both demand student engagement in the Concordia community.

 

Photo by Laurence B. D.

 

Exit mobile version