The farmers’ market presented as part of the Concordia Student Union’s back-to-school orientation to promote sustainable and healthy living took over Reggie’s terrace Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Students and community members from local and university-based initiatives gathered from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. to participate in the farmers’ market on the first official day of semester. The event started off with breakfast for new and returning students at 11 a.m. by offering regional produce such as organic apples.
Different booths pushed ecological awareness by selling local produce from Concordia and other provincial organizations, cooking displays that used fresh, unprocessed and local foods, and different artisans who fabricated their own products.
CSU VP sustainability Andrew Roberts organized the event to encourage new students to pursue a sustainable lifestyle and to join campus initiatives.
“It’s good to promote this growing urban agriculture sustainable food movement,” said Roberts. “We’ve got a market happening and we have vendors giving out flyers for the Marché Locale.”
Fruixi, a project launched by the City of Montreal in 2011, also had a stall set up on the terrace. Fruixi is an initiative to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the urban core by setting up carts attached to bikes stocked with food in downtown parks.
“Initially the project was started up to promote healthy eating in the Centre-Sud neighborhood,” explained Fruixi co-ordinator Maxime St-Denis. “Residents of the area are often marginalized and more vulnerable considering low socioeconomic status so we gave them access to healthy foods.”
St-Denis wanted to diversify Fruixi’s clientele by extending their services to Concordia University students and the West End of Montreal.
“Having access to healthy foods is the secret to good health,” St-Denis said. “We’re here to promote our project, to be discovered in a part of the city we don’t work with much.”
The Concordia City Farm school is a project organized by Sustainable Concordia that shows students the basics of agriculture and farming.
In association with the greenhouse on the 13th floor of the Hall building, the City Farm School gave students free samples of green tea produced at the Loyola farm.
The Concordia Student Union has a president and seven executives who represent Concordia University’s 35,000 undergraduate students for an entire year starting on June 1.
During the general elections in March, A Better Concordia made a commitment to students to provide more events, sustainable projects and more initiatives for Loyola campus. They also pledged to be transparent, honest and to stick to their promises.
The CSU foresees its total budget, from revenues generated through student fees and various other funds, as $5,505,350 for the 2012-13 academic year at Concordia.
Here is The Concordian’s guide to the CSU’s preliminary budget for the upcoming year and a basic breakdown of the numbers.
REVENUES
To start, the CSU facilitates a budget through its earnings and expenses. Regarding revenues, the CSU’s projections show it receives $1,242,000 from student fee levies alone. Each undergraduate student pays $1.75 per credit toward the Concordia Student Union. Therefore, a full-time undergraduate student taking five courses worth three credits each is paying $26.25 per semester. An individual taking 10 courses for the academic year is contributing $52.50 to the CSU’s profits.
SALARIES, BENEFITS AND HONORARIUMS
The CSU allotted $224,000 of their budget for the salaries of eight executives. The 2012-13 annual salary for an executive is approximately $28,000.
During the year, an executive or vice-president of the CSU receives an additional expense account of $625. For example, an expense account would cover costs of transportation. CSU President Schubert Laforest has an expense account of $1,300 for the entire year.
An annual $3,000 honorarium is provided to the chair of council; the secretary receives $3,000 for the year as well.
The CSU allotted a total of $349,318 to be spent on employees. This includes the salaries and benefits for administration and receptionists, the general manager and other expenses.
ORIENTATION
The CSU expects to generate revenues from their orientation in two ways. Contributions are defined by funding gathered from sponsorships and here the CSU believes they will make $5,000. Sales made from food and alcohol are expected to generate ten times that, at about $50,000.
In terms of expenses, the CSU tabled $150,000 to cover the two-week long orientation, one of the lowest orientation budgets within the last few years. Last year, the CSU spent a total of $180,888 on orientation activities, and $227,017 in 2008.
LOYOLA LUNCHEONS
As part of a special student council meeting held in August, the CSU decided to allot an additional $4,000 of its surplus to the Loyola Luncheon. The initial budget for the Loyola luncheon for salaries and expenses was a total of $32,400 but with the additional funding from the surplus, it is approximately $36,400.
WORTH NOTING
Operational costs for the CSU comes to approximately $230,155 for the year. Operations include but are not limited to telephones, computers, office expenses, postage and promotions. Landlines for the CSU executives, HOJO and other CSU offices come to a total of $55,000. Postage costs $1,200 while office expenses, such as stationery, run at $25,000.
As classes begin on Wednesday, Sept. 4. so too does the Concordia Student Union’s orientation aimed at familiarizing new students with their surroundings while welcoming back returning students.
This year’s theme is titled “City of Festivals” and will span from Sept. 4 until the 16th. The idea is to create an homage to Montreal’s wide array of festivals that make the city so unique.
The CSU will host numerous festival-related events and activities during the two weeks building up to the much anticipated concert which will be held at the Loyola quad on Friday, Sept.14.
VP student life Alexis Suzuki would not disclose information on headliners but said the “concert for accessible education” will be welcoming award-winning DJs as well as two-time Canadian beatbox champion KRNFX.
“He’s an amazing beatboxer, I’m really excited to have him,” Suzuki said. “We’re really trying to make it so there’s a bit of everything for everyone.”
The new and improved Reggie’s will have its grand opening on Sept. 6, where the CSU will host their own version of Bal en Blanc from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
A sustainable food market will take over Reggie’s terrace from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept 5. VP sustainability Andrew Roberts will co-ordinate the event which will host a number of vendors, local farmers, workshops and live art throughout the day. There will also be tasting and cooking stations.
“Over the past years, there have been organizations and vendors,” explained Roberts, “and what I wanted to do this year was separate the organizations on campus from urban agriculture and sustainable food movements.”
A beer festival is slated for Friday, Sept. 7 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Reggie’s as a tribute to the Festival Mondiale de la Bière Montreal that takes place during the summer. Following the beer festival is a comedy show in the Hall building.
Comedy for accessible education mirrors the Just For Laughs Festival and its galas while aiming to raise money for students in financial need. The show will feature a comedy improv group and headlines stand-up comedian Amy Schumer. Schumer placed fourth on the fifth season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and has appeared on Delocated and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
At the comedy show, the CSU will donate one dollar for every student present to bursaries to help offset the costs of the tuition increase.
VP academic and advocacy Lucia Gallardo said that the concert will ask students for donations which will go toward the bursaries as well.
Concordia University’s student pub, Reggie’s, is revamped and ready for the grand opening on Thursday, Sept. 6 in an effort to attract more clientele.
Renovations were made during the month of August in order to spruce up the popular university bar. CUSACorp, the Concordia Student Union’s for-profit subsidiary that manages Reggie’s, approved a total of $12,000 for the renovation budget.
Ramy Khoriaty, Reggie’s business manager, said repairs include fresh paint, new decor, black lights and booths in an effort to modernize the bar.
“We painted all the walls, we took out tables,” said Khoriaty. “[Before the renovations] it was dangerous because security couldn’t get around them.”
As most of the overhaul was completed by Khoriaty and volunteers, including CSU’s VP finance Keny Toto, CUSACorp spent a total of only $6,500 to refurbish Reggie’s.
However, renovations are not the only changes in store for the campus hangout.
CUSACorp experienced trouble generating enough profits to break even with Reggie’s 2011-12 losses which accumulated to more than $40,000. According to Toto, it was the worst year for Reggie’s since 2008.
“We’re not only changing the appearance – some of the staff are being changed, the managers are changed,” explained Khoriaty.
Khoriaty told The Concordian that the Board of Directors decided to hire new bartenders and managers for the upcoming school year since there were issues with the staff in the past.
Tory Forsyth, who worked at Reggie’s for more than three years as a bartender, said that she was not informed of the reasons behind CUSACorp’s decision to not renew her contract.
“Every year, the board is allowed to hire or not hire whomever they want,” said Forsyth. “I was let go about a week ago.”
Khoriaty is aiming to improve the bar’s morale by building up a faithful clientele and a responsible management even if it means a raise in prices.
“There will be an analysis on prices. We’ll take into account the price of bartenders, busboys and what we sell every night,” explained Khoriaty. “If we don’t make enough, prices will have to go up.”
As for new patrons, Reggie’s hopes to attract those who do not study exclusively in the Hall building.
“We want our bar to be nice,” added Khoriaty. “Maybe now John Molson [School of Business] students will come here.”
Sean Thomson, a JMSB undergraduate student, says he agrees with this strategy.
“I think that if Reggie’s is redone, it would probably attract people,” Thomson said. “I would definitely be interested in taking a look at what they’ve done.”
Renovations to the bathrooms are projected to be completed before Thursday but are not done yet, according to Toto.
“It would probably cost between $2,000 to $3,000 total for bathrooms and the back area,” he said.
Reggie’s opening night is part of the CSU’s orientation to welcome new and returning students. A Bal en Blanc themed party will be taking place from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and the first hundred guests will receive one free drink.
There has been a lot of talk recently about fresh starts in the coming academic year. Now that Concordia has an actual new beginning on its hands, we have to wonder if this time it will be for real.
With the start of a brand new school year, it’s the perfect time for this university to shake the dust from its heels, wipe away the grime of the old scandals and move on. Timing couldn’t be better with a new president coming in, fresh-faced and ready to take on the responsibilities that come alongside the glad-handing and posing for pictures. More than ever, students want someone who is willing to listen to what they have to say, and we can only hope that Alan Shepard is up to the challenge.
At the same time, a new Concordia Student Union comes into power, one who ran on a campaign overflowing with promises to make the academic and social lives of students better. A Better Concordia, remember? This executive who promised us more events, more sustainable projects, more love for Loyola, more transparency, more honesty; now is the time for them to put their words into action.
So what happens next? Is Concordia doomed to repeat history over and over? We hope not. It may sound like a fool’s hope, but this could be as Shepard puts it, “Concordia’s time.” This is a school that has a lot going for it and though some things never change, the gross mismanagement of funds, resources and people’s patience can.
CSU President Schubert Laforest may not have a lot of experience sitting at the big kids table, but maybe that is a good thing. Maybe students are tired of the ‘behind closed doors’ attitude and want someone to shake things up. Perhaps this is overly optimistic, but perhaps that may be exactly what this school needs. If we took a moment now and then to stop criticizing her and help her instead, Concordia could actually have a reputation we could be proud of.
There are people at this school — teachers, staff, administrators, and student leaders — who genuinely care about the Concordia experience and want to make it all that it can be. There are also people who don’t seem to care about students at all, and they are allowed to let their desire to turn public education into a corporation run rampant. To them, who make the rest of the people who give a damn look like helpless bystanders or worse, greedy accomplices, we say this: step aside.
Concordia deserves a fresh start and a clean slate after a long road of missteps. But that’s not going to happen if we let the bullies rule the playground for another year and only talk of change, instead of enacting it.
In coordination with the Occupy Canada movement and in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in New York City, approximately 1,000 people showed up to Victoria Square for the first day of Occupy Montreal. Participants in the ‘general assembly’ then decided to rename Victoria Square as “Place du peuple.” Occupy Montreal lasted about a month before police forcibly vacated the square.
An estimated 30,000 students protested against the provincial government’s plan to raise tuition in the streets of downtown Montreal. Despite the downpour, a Concordia contingent left from Reggie’s terrace around 1 p.m. to meet up with other students at Parc Emilie-Gamelin. After marching through the downtown core, the movement gathered outside Premier Jean Charest’s office on McGill College. By the end of the protest, some students flocked to the James Administration building to take part in a growing confrontation. Police used tear gas and pepper spray to force protesters off McGill property. According to Montreal Police, four arrests were made that day.
A group of students occupied the office of Deputy Provost for Student Life and Learning, Morton Mendelson, in protest of the administration’s decision not to uphold a referendum that would continue funding the campus radio station and a social justice organization. Students requested that CKUT and QPIRG continue to receive funding and that Mendelson step down. Administration cut off access to power and plumbing, which eventually forced students out days later.
Student governors Cameron Monagle, AJ West and Erik Chevrier quickly put an end to a meeting that had not even entered open session. The three students walked out in protest because they opposed a motion made in closed session that addressed whether or not cameras and recording equipment would be allowied during meetings. When they left, the meeting lost quorum and was therefore cancelled.
Concordia University became the first English post-secondary institution to join the student strike against the tuition increase. In a historic moment, undergraduate students voted in favour of a week-long general strike from March 15-22.
Then-executive candidates Schubert Laforest and Lucia Gallardo were disqualified from running for the Concordia Student Union by Chief Electoral Officer Ismail Holoubi. Holoubi claimed that Gallardo and Laforest were not registered students and thus not eligible to run.
Education Minister Line Beauchamp slapped Concordia University with a $2-million fine for handing out excessive severance packages and mismanaging funds. In a letter addressed to the administration, Beauchamp expressed her concern about senior administrators’ salaries and the turnover rate for those positions.
The judicial board of the CSU ruled that Gallardo and Laforest should be able to participate in the general election campaign. Their affiliation presented evidence that they experienced trouble with their VISAs and were left temporarily unregistered. Both candidates were reinstated.
A massive demonstration of more than 200,000 students and their supporters took to the streets of downtown Montreal to protest against the tuition fee increase. Concordia University cancelled class on both campuses that day for security reasons. It marked one of the largest protests in Canadian history and no arrests were made.
When a Fine Arts Student Alliance general assembly failed to meet quorum, more than 70 students held a sit-in outside of President Frederick Lowy’s office on the 15th floor of the MB building. Students proceeded to demand another meeting so they could discuss concerns about the ongoing student strike. After an hour, Lowy emerged from his office to take part in the impromptu meeting which would be continued at a later date.
Following months of student unrest and protests against the tuition hike, Education Minister Line Beauchamp stepped down from her position and from politics entirely. Beauchamp’s resignation came after negotiations between the provincial government and student groups failed. An hour later, Michelle Courchesne was appointed as the new education minister.
In an effort to put an end to the tuition crisis after 14 weeks of student unrest, the provincial government passed the controversial and historic Bill 78. The bill cracks down on the size and governance of demonstrations, imposes strict fines for individuals blocking access to classes in post-secondary institutions and ended the winter semester at CEGEPs and universities affected by the strike.
A Concordia University student Jun Lin was remembered in a public funeral nearly two months after his brutal murder. Family and friends gathered at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery at 9 a.m. to mourn the loss of 33-year-old Lin. His ashes were buried in Montreal, where he had started to make a life for himself. The suspect was apprehended and his trial is ongoing.
Concordia University’s incumbent President Alan Shepard took office on Aug. 1 to commence his five-year mandate. Shepard was hired to replace Frederick Lowy who was appointed as interim President following the resignation of Judith Woodsworth in Dec. 2010.
Schubert Laforest
Concordia Student Union President
Laforest’s mandate began on June 1 when he replaced former President Lex Gill.
Laforest is in charge of the student union that represents Concordia’s 30,000 undergraduate students and he is there to ensure undergraduate students’ voices are heard and concerns are addressed during the upcoming academic year. The president’s job is to oversee his executive committee’s management of funds, their promotion of student life, their campaigns and services.
Laforest plans to tackle issues and scandals at Concordia with a sustainable and transparent government approach. Laforest promised that students would feel represented in administrative decisions and the CSU would hold governing bodies accountable for their decisions. The incumbent president said that he will tackle the tuition fee increase by lobbying for change within the internal management of the university.
Lauzon is in charge of handling Concordia’s external affairs and therefore deals with individuals, programs and groups outside of the university institution. VP external is responsible for liaisons outside of Concordia and the mobilization of students to actively participate in campaigns organized by the CSU. Lauzon must also sit on the External and Campaigns committee.
For his mandate, Lauzon plans to implement student-run research papers that count for credit in order to have a more informed student body. An advocate of the student movement against the tuition increase, Lauzon will work with international student organizations who face similar situations.
The role of VP Sustainability is to develop a responsible and sustainable environmental and social policy for the CSU. Roberts must promote sustainable campaigns and initiatives for Concordia. As part of his duties, Roberts sits on the board of directors for the Sustainability Action Fund and the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program.
Roberts aims to promote sustainability at Concordia by addressing new undergraduate students at orientation. His goal is to create and update a sustainability website to promote awareness about environmental measures.
VP academic runs the legal clinic and Advocacy Centre while acting as a liaison to the Graduate Students Association and those appointed to represent academic bodies on academic issues. Gallardo is also responsible for the organization and chairing of meetings of the student academic caucus, and she must oversee the appointment of individuals on academic bodies or sit on them herself.
Gallardo wants to implement a sexual assault centre with the help of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia. Her goals are to focus on students in need of financial aid and a sexual harassment policy.
The job of VP finance is to oversee the CSU budget in terms of preparation, accessibility, updating and reporting on a monthly basis to the council. Toto must ensure the budget is respected and in the best interests of the student body. VP finance is also responsible for sitting on the board of CUSACORP and on the financial committee.
Toto aims to focus on the needs of undergrads and welcomes their input for the budget. His goal is to make the CSU budget easy to read and to access. Toto also promises to make CUSACORP more profitable through new services while properly managing inventory control and improving marketing strategies.
VP clubs and internal affairs oversees all non-academic groups belonging to the CSU. Part of Atallah’s mandate is to have a relationship with clubs, manage club budgets, and sit on the Clubs and Space Committee. Atallah also acts as the secretary of the corporation aspect of the CSU and must oversee the CSU’s corporate books.
In order to create a more democratic CSU, Atallah promises to implement online voting so that more students can participate in decisions made by the CSU. In addition she wants to encourage all students to find a club or student group that interests them.
The role of VP student life is to act as a liaison for all faculty associations. Suzuki is responsible for organizing major events at Concordia, specifically that of student orientation at the beginning of the fall semester.
Suzuki promised to work closely with clubs and faculty associations to ensure involvement in student life on campus. Her goal is to revitalize student life by reaching out to students to get them involved over the duration of the upcoming academic year.
This position protects the best interests of students at Concordia’s Loyola Campus. VP Loyola is responsible for promoting a united university community and strengthening ties between both campuses. Faina must also maintain a strong CSU presence at the Loyola Campus.
Faina stated that he feels Loyola has the potential to play a greater role in student life this year. He promised to create more events at the campus and to bring back the Winter Festival. Faina also plans to introduce movie nights and a music festival at Loyola.
As of Friday May 11, members from three of the province’s major student groups have voted to reject the Quebec government’s offer of proposed changes to their plan to increase university tuition fees in September.
Student unions represented by the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec and delegates of the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante voted overwhelmingly against accepting the latest deal aimed at ending student protests.
Their decision comes almost a week after the tentative agreement between students and the government was initially reached. Spokespeople from all three student groups helped form the now-rejected deal after 22 hours of negotiations with Premier Jean Charest and Education Minister Line Beauchamp on Saturday.
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The Concordia Student Union unanimously voted to decline the provincial government’s second offer to striking student groups in a special council meeting on Tuesday night.
The special council meeting was held to discuss the recent offer made by the Charest Liberals to student leaders as well as members of the Conference des recteurs et des principaux des universites du Quebec. These negotiations led to the announcement of a tentative deal on Saturday. The offer was presented by leaders of the student movement during a press conference but will only be decided upon once general assemblies are held and the offer is put to a vote.
Approximately 50 Concordia students gathered for the assembly but only the elected council members were allowed to vote. Students were encouraged by CSU President Lex Gill to participate in the discussion portion of the meeting and voice their opinions.
Calling the media “intimidating,” Gill requested that all external media leave the meeting early on. All Concordia student media were welcome to stay for the duration, however, Gill invited mainstream media organizations to get in touch with her following the meeting.
“I’m going to try and not editorialize as much as possible,” Gill told students.
An appearance by Board of Governors Chair Peter Kruyt was met with disdain from some students and he left shortly after questions were raised about his presence.
The results were unsurprising as many university student associations and CEGEPs have voted to reject the government’s proposal during the week.
“I’m really glad we took the position that we took,” CSU councillor and student governor Cameron Monagle told The Concordian. “It was a really bum deal.”
The overwhelming rejection is meant to be a symbolic motion that the tuition increase, despite the deal, will not be accepted.
“This offer didn’t block the tuition increase and it was insufficient,” Monagle added.
The Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, the student organization which represents Concordia and many other Quebec universities, will hold its own vote on Friday, May 11.
The judicial board of the Concordia Student Union unanimously voted to reinstate six formerly disqualified councillors elect following a public hearing on Monday, April 23.
The councillors were there to appeal the decision made by the CSU’s Chief Electoral Officer, Ismail Holoubi, which disqualified them for not filing their election expense reports on time.
The councillors present at the meeting were Rami Khoriaty, Charles Brenchley, Bella Giancotta and Ali Talhouni. Holoubi was absent from the hearing, as were formerly disqualified councillors Veryan Goodship and Johnny Alexandar.
Khoriaty insisted that the CEO was late to file the motion to disqualify the councillors and that communication between the councillors and Holoubi had been unclear.
“We didn’t have any receipts because we didn’t have any expenses,” said Khoriaty. “We had nothing to send to the CEO.”
After Holoubi disqualified the councillors on April 5 for failing to hand in their paperwork on time, the councillors requested to appeal his decision on April 11.
According to Khoriaty, some councillors did not receive emails from Holoubi regarding the expense reports, and those that did said each one was different.
“For seven people to make a mistake, it wasn’t us, it’s a mistake done by the CEO,” said Khoriaty.
Before the meeting was adjourned, councillors emphasized that they had all been acting in good faith.
“We did not commit electoral fraud,” said Brenchley.
Following the hearing, the board released a preliminary statement reversing the decision made by the CEO and reinstating all six councillors for the 2012 – 2013 academic year.
JB Chair Ceejay Desfosses resigned unexpectedly from her position the day before the hearing in an email sent to CSU Chair Nicolas Cuillerier.
Desfosses wrote that she would be unable to fulfill her obligations to the JB due to a lack of time since she will be “embarking on other endeavors.”
On April 22, the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale etudiante unanimously voted to denounce deliberate acts of violence by student protesters and was allowed to enter negotiations.
However, tentative talks between student groups and the province fell apart after Education Minister Line Beauchamp banned the CLASSE once again from joining the discussion.
The minister’s decision came on April 25 in response to a violent student demonstration that took place the previous night. Though the CLASSE stated they did not organize the protest, Beauchamp said they were responsible in part for announcing the demonstration on their website.
As a result, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec and the Fédération étudiante collègiale du Québec have abandoned negotiations with the government unless the CLASSE is re-admitted.
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On Tuesday, the Concordia Student Union voted on a symbolic motion to support the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec’s decision to stand in solidarity with another student group, during a special CSU meeting regarding negotiations with the government.
Education Minister Line Beauchamp offered to speak with the FEUQ and the Fédération étudiante collègiale du Québec on Sunday, after the FEUQ requested an independent government commission to investigate university management.
Beauchamp made it clear that there would be no discussion of the incoming tuition hike at the meeting, and that the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale etudiante would not be invited.
The CSU decided in a unanimous motion that it will only support negotiations between the provincial government and the student leaders if all student associations are invited.
Following a presentation by CSU President Lex Gill, the special council meeting was quickly voted into a committee of the whole, allowing for more informal dialogue and an open discussion for those present at the meeting.
Gill emphasized that at the last FEUQ meeting it was clear they were not willing to engage in negotiations without the CLASSE, who has been very active throughout the year in the fight against tuition increases.
“There is a consensus at the CSU that the CLASSE should be at that table as well,” said Gill.
Beauchamp stated earlier in the week that she would only extend an invitation to the CLASSE if the student association agreed to condemn acts of violence and vandalism as means of protest. CLASSE spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said at a press conference held April 16 that while the association does not associate itself with these acts, it cannot condemn them. Nadeau-Dubois said the CLASSE would not change its position without consulting its members first.
“We find it unacceptable that our coalition, which represents 47 per cent of the people on strike right now, is being rejected from the negotiation process,” said Nadeau-Dubois on Monday. “If our coalition is not part of the solution, there won’t be any actual solution to the student strike.”
More protests are underway this week. On April 19, a morning demonstration is planned for the downtown core. That same day in Gatineau, students will be protesting the injunctions ordered against striking students at L’Université du Québec en Outaouais. On Sunday April 22, students will join in what is expected to be a large march coinciding with Earth Day.
With files from Sarah Deshaies and Marilla Steuter-Martin.
At the April 11 Concordia Student Union council meeting, the resignation of former VP advocacy and outreach, Morgan Pudwell, was addressed. Council went into closed session for the reading of a statement issued by Pudwell, who was not present at the meeting.
President Lex Gill said when asked about Pudwell’s student status, that she could not discuss academic or health issues of her former colleague but that “[Pudwell] is working to resolve the situation.”
The issue was not discussed more at council following the closed session, in part because Pudwell was in transit and unable to attend the meeting.
According to an email sent to councillors from CSU chairperson Nick Cuillerier, the Dean of Students office confirmed that Pudwell and Arts and Science councillor Amero Muiny are not registered as students at the university.
At the Wednesday meeting, it was stated by Cuillerier that Muiny would be submitting an official resignation to council in the near future.
CSU council mandated an investigation into the status of its executive, council and judicial board members at a council meeting in March. Pudwell walked out of the last regular CSU council meeting after former CSU councillor Tomer Shavit accused her of not being a registered student. Pudwell stated illness as her reason for leaving.
With only six weeks left in her term, Pudwell informed her fellow CSU executives in a formal letter sent on Tuesday that her last day in office will be April 17. The news of her resignation surfaced mid-day Wednesday.
According to Pudwell, she is no longer able to maintain her position because she has been dealing with health concerns.
During the last two weeks of her term, Pudwell wrote in her letter that she would “tie up loose ends with on-going projects and produce documentation for the incoming executive.”
The Concordia Student Union has taken a lot of heat recently, and rightly so. They failed to properly promote two general assemblies to vote on a strike and their recent elections were an utter disaster with a seriously low voter turnout.
Nonetheless, it’s important to give credit where credit is due. The CSU proved to be a fine leader last Thursday during the massive protest against tuition hikes, when over 200,000 people, many of them students, took to the streets to tell the Charest government to take their planned increases and shove it.
Early Thursday morning, hundreds crowded around the Hall building, where they designed protest signs and discussed their strategies for the day. By noon, over 500 students were heading down to the march’s main meeting point, being lead by CSU President Lex Gill and vice-president external Chad Walcott.
Considering the controversy that has surrounded the CSU in recent weeks and the criticism the executive has faced with regards to a lack of organization, it was pleasing to see the CSU hype up the crowds and lead the massive march for the better part of the three-hour event.
The fact that it was the CSU, the student union of an English Quebec university, playing such a pivotal role in the demonstration sent a strong message, one that said that anglophone students in this province — at least a large part of them — have no intention of being left out of this fierce battle against tuition hikes. While francophone student associations continue to receive most of the praise for their efforts in mobilizing students and keeping the movement alive, the CSU showed us last Thursday that anglophone post-secondary institutions can be just as feisty in this fight with the Charest Liberals.
The demonstration as a whole was a huge success. While it may not have succeeded in swaying the government’s position on tuition, it proved how serious students and their supporters are when it comes to accessible education. The fact that so many people poured into the streets to take part in one of the largest demonstrations in Quebec’s history is very telling of the public mood in this province.
Education Minister Line Beauchamp may do her best to sleep at night by telling herself that the march was simply comprised of “the usual players,” but what the minister has failed to realize — among other things — is that it wasn’t just students or big unions out in the streets on March 22; there were countless parents, grandparents and students from other provinces (Ontario, notably) marching that day as well.
Solidarity between people of different generations and of different backgrounds has not been this evident in Quebec for many years. So it’s important to not let the power of solidarity diminish. The CSU may have taken another hit this past Monday with its failed general assembly — only about 300 students showed up — but this in no way means that the student movement at Concordia is slowly fading away.
The CSU must harness the frustration and anger Concordia students are expressing with regards to tuition increases and the administration’s mismanagement of public funds. Mobilizing students on a large scale is still very much a possibility. The CSU proved to be a powerful leader last Thursday; there’s no reason to believe they can’t do it again.
