Tag: Concordia Student Union

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Opinions

The turning tides of the CSU

Disclaimer: The Concordian is a fee-levy organization

For the past few years, the CSU has felt out of step with Concordia students, do we now have reason for hope?

To say I’ve been embarrassed by the Concordia Student Union (CSU) in my past few years as a student would be an understatement. In recent memory, the CSU has jumped from controversy to controversy, spanning from allegations of anti-semitism, an attempted impeachment, to mockery of non-binary gender identities.

While it may seem like Concordia just has bad luck with student politics, or that there’s something in the water that’s making everyone collectively go insane, all these issues have precedents set by North American politics en large.

The most hotly contested CSU issue in the past year or so has undoubtedly been the implementation of online fee-levy opt-outs. Fee-levy groups are student organizations that are funded by students based on a per-credit fee. These include People’s Potato, Cinema Politica, CJLO 1690AM and Queer Concordia.

Since the referendum question asking if fee-levy opt-outs should be brought online passed with 61.1 per cent of the vote last November, the process of actually building the system has been marked by a lack of transparency and bad faith reinterpretations of the purposely vague question.

Despite the fact that only 16.6 percent of Concordia undergraduates actually voted in the referendum, the question passed, and thus must be enacted. With that being said, it is still important to critique why this question was ever even up for vote in the first place.

Former General Coordinator of the CSU, Christopher Kalafatidis, who put forth the question, remarked at the time to The Concordian that, “Fee-levy groups never work towards building better relationships with students. 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.”

The quote says it all. It was political —  the move was always political, not financial. We need to move past their assertions that the online opt-out question was posed to protect the interests of students who desperately need to save about $60 a semester, and reckon with the fact that this move was intended to put pressure on fee-levy groups. For what exactly? It’s hard to say. But there is no reasonable way Kalafatidis and his colleagues at the CSU could believe that all the disparate fee-levy groups have the same approach to student relations, as stated in his comment. Furthermore, this ongoing false dichotomy between fee-levy groups and tuition-paying students is misleading, as it paints said groups as if they were a third-party, not just fellow students in an organization.

What do Kalafatidis and his supporters get from this move? Well, they get a reinforcement of their conservative ideals. Online fee-levy opt-outs can be understood through the lens of taxation. Much like federal taxes, students pay a few cents or dollars to fee-levy groups, some of which they will never interact with in their time at Concordia, and some of which will be imperative to their student experience.

From a progressive perspective, when all students pay into the fee-levy system, our campus organizations are well-funded and able to provide resources for all students. However, a conservative might argue that we should not be paying into services that we don’t plan on using, no matter how small the cost overall.

The conservative position of simplifying the opt-out process wouldn’t exist if not for the general shift to the right in Western politics and push to defund social security programs. Since the era of Reagan and Thatcher, conservative politicians have been further and further critical of welfare programs, which the majority of them feel that they don’t directly benefit from. Whether we like it or not, student politics reflect politics at large, and this connection between fee-levy groups and taxation is too blatant to ignore. It’s just unfortunate to see these individualistic and neoliberal ideas enacted on our campuses through the lens of impartiality and the assertion of ‘having the students’ backs.’

The moment it was most obvious that many on the CSU were out of touch with political realities was at the Aug. 26 special council meeting. At this meeting, former councilor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski presented a motion to have the CSU denounce certain extremist groups. The motion named “groups” such as the KKK, “Unite the Right,” Antifa and Resistance Internationaliste.

To anyone actually aware of extremism’s rise in North America, this list would make absolutely no sense. For one, Unite the Right is not a group, it was a two-day rally event in 2017. Additionally, despite what Trump wants Americans to believe, Antifa is also not a definable group either, but instead a political movement and ideology literally connoting “anti-fascism.” If Levitsky-Kaminski truly cared to protect Concordia students from extremist violence, he would have cited groups that actually have a decent presence here in Canada, such as the Proud Boys, rather than the KKK or mere ideologies like Antifa.

Then why put forward this motion, if it was so disconnected from reality? What motivation was there other than to obfuscate the desire for comprehensive anti-racism measures from the CSU, like General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner has been suggesting should be put forth?

Much like in general North American politics, racism and inequality cannot be solved through band-aid fixes. Additionally, making this sort of “both sides” argument on extremism only serves to echo Trumpist rhetoric further endangering people of colour who are affected by the much more common right-wing extremism.

I see this meeting as a turning point for the CSU. Between the accusations of political bias, and the pointed racial comments, the divisions on council had passed the point of civility.

However, after this meeting, multiple councillors resigned, including Levitsky-Kaminski.

With those resignations and the election of the “We Got You” slate of executives, the tides are finally turning on the CSU. An online opt-out system is finally being implemented with sufficient input by the fee-levy groups and with a survivor-centred sexual misconduct policy finally in the books, there’s reason to look forward to the future of the CSU.

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News

Online School, a pandemic and no break

The lack of a fall reading week is adding to an already difficult fall semester

With the pandemic still in full force, Montreal is remaining under red zone status until at least Nov. 23. The reality of virtual school has set in, and students are struggling to find success in the online classroom. It’s no secret this fall semester has been challenging.

Online midterms add significant stress to the usual midterm season, and without a fall reading week, students have no chance to breathe.

Last year, students voted favourably on the addition of a fall reading week. Sixteen per cent of the student body took part in the vote with 86 per cent voting in favour of the break.

“A fall reading break would be a great method to reduce midterm stress and should be given increased consideration due to the pandemic,” said Omar Hamdy Salem, a third-year Economics and Political Science student. “I would like [time] to brush up on my midterms, perhaps spend some time [on] Zoom sessions with friends to try and study together.”

Despite the vote, a break has not yet been implemented.

“Concordia makes their academic calendar a year in advance … This fall had already been too late; the earliest convening time would have been fall 2021,” said Isaiah Joyner, the CSU’s general coordinator.

But just because it didn’t happen this year does not mean that the project is dead.

“The project is still ongoing, so we could see it as early as fall 2021,” said Joyner.

In a statement made to The Concordian, a concordia representative said “We will shortly be issuing a community consultation document to solicit feedback on two possible options: one, beginning the term before Labour Day, and two, shortening the term from 13 to 12 weeks.”

This means students will soon be able to give feedback on how they want the fall reading week implemented.

Without a break in the fall, the semester has been intense, and students have lost any relief that came from attending school. Going to the library to study, getting coffee at the Hive or even meeting their professors in person… simple aspects of the university experience have been stripped away.

“The blended lines with online learning and remote learning and now having to work so much harder because of the adaptations and the classes feeling even more overwhelming, they cut directly into your home life,” said Joyner.

“You could really go and make a separation — work-life balance, school-life balance — but now they are all blended into one … Taking a step back seems almost impossible.”

A fall break is not only an opportunity for students to study, but also to get some rest from the fast pace of the school year.

“People [could] detach themselves and realign, take it easy and be like, ‘I’ll make it to the break,’ but in the fall it’s just go, go, go and it can be very challenging,” said Joyner.

“I would spend it just studying … [and be] able to breathe and not do assignments after hours and hours of video lectures,” said Noah Choen-Wanis, a second-year Engineering student.

But the absence of a fall reading week isn’t the only thing contributing to students’ stress.

With online school comes a lack of personal attention from professors; a major change for many students.

“Not having in-person classes where it’s much easier to learn for me and get ready for midterms makes studying and midterm prep much harder,” said Cohen-Wanis.

Hosting midterms online comes with a lot of technical chaos as well.

“With how disorganized and random the assignment time and location is, [it] makes it a lot harder to study and do the work needed for the midterms,” Cohen-Wanis continued.

“I’ve felt more stressed than last year mostly because of all the self-managing and self-teaching I’ve had to do this semester … [it’s] mostly self-motivation issues,” said Emily Allen, a second-year Sociology student.

Online classes meant many international students remained in their home countries this year, which comes with unique challenges.

“This year, studying from my home country El Salvador has proved exceedingly difficult due to the constant power and internet outages [and] a lack of an appropriate study space,” said Jose Morales, an Industrial Engineering student.

A reading week could have been the perfect opportunity for students to recuperate from the stress of online school and the pandemic.

“I think a reading break would allow you to manage assessments … you could study all your courses at once without missing a class,” said Allen. “I think it would have been good last year, but this year even more so.”

 

Photo by Christine Beaudoin

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News

Concordia student starts petition for pass/fail option in the Fall 2020 semester

Concordia University spokesperson says pass/fail option will not be offered

A Concordia student has started a petition urging the university to enact the pass/fail option for the fall semester, while Concordia University told The Concordian the administration does not plan to do so.

Third-year English Literature student Marcia Lobo said she started the petition because this fall semester has been difficult for her and others around her. She says the stress of balancing the restrictions, online course work, and lack of family, friends, and support has been a lot.

“We weren’t expecting this semester,” said Lobo. “The stress didn’t go away, the pandemic is still here, it’s still very real and we are practically in lockdown … nothing has changed really.”

Lobo is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and due to the pandemic she will move back home. Lobo is currently juggling selling and packing her belongings, a part-time job, and studying full-time, and says she feels isolated, stressed, and unsupported.

“I feel like it’s even worse now, because in the beginning we were getting used to it and we didn’t think it would last that long, and now it just seems endless and we don’t know when things will go back to normal.”

“I don’t learn nearly as much,” said Lobo on the stress of online classes. She says some of her teachers have not been accommodating. She feels exceedingly stressed about getting good enough grades to apply for grad school, due to the pressure of trying to excel in a learning format that she struggles with.

“With the pressure I get even more nervous and I really don’t absorb what the professors are saying,” she said.

Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci released a statement to The Concordian saying the pass/fail option will not be offered this semester.

“The pass/fail option was offered to students in the Winter 2020 semester as an exceptional measure, due to the unforeseen disruption created by the pandemic. The option will not be offered this semester as it was announced last May that Fall 2020 would be delivered remotely for teaching and exams, giving time to all to prepare for this delivery format.”

Third-year finance student Jay Bowers told The Concordian, “This semester, everything changed … they just kind of expected us to keep up rigorously with the curriculum that they were demanding at whatever cost.”

Bowers had an online midterm exam where the program stopped working as he submitted his exam to COLE (Concordia OnLine Exams).

“I have a whole screen recording of this. I sent my professor this lengthy email … and [the professor] said [to] contact Proctorio, [but] it was COLE! Proctorio had nothing to do with this.”

According to Bowers, he spoke to a Proctorio representative, who told him this was a COLE issue. After emailing the professor, she told him to direct any more questions about the exams to COLE. Bowers said he feels bounced around between services and has been offered limited solutions.

Bowers said he has tried to reach out to his advisor this semester, but has been offered no concrete help and was not recommended anymore services he could seek.

“I feel that the support that they offered was minimal at best,” said Bowers. “Who’s listening?”

Venn Mauge, a second-year Management student, said this semester has been difficult because of the isolation and lack of support. Mauge is an international student, and cannot return home because her country’s borders are closed.

“I haven’t seen my family for an entire year, so that’s just a mental strain on its own. For me to have to just mask it with school, it’s just super overwhelming. I’m getting emotional talking about it,” said Mauge.

In one of her classes she had a quiz with 40 theory-based questions, each with five multiple choice answers to choose from, and the quiz length was 30 minutes. This leaves less than one minute per question.

“They ask you questions and you have to think of a theory and then apply it … I was on question eight and I looked at my timer and I had 17 minutes left. I’m not even halfway through … this is super unreasonable.”

Third-year Aerospace Engineering student Nico Brouillet said he was also facing issues with professors and online schooling.

He describes how in one of his classes, if a student asks a question during the lecture that is not immediately relevant to the topic the teacher is discussing at that exact moment, the professor has responded with anger and has kicked students out of the Zoom lecture.

“I’ve looked into emailing the program advisor, but it’s just— there’s no one place, there’s no certain spot to … report a teacher.”

All three students describe feeling like, on top of experiencing problems related to online learning and with no clear avenues for help, these issues are exacerbated by the pandemic. They described the burden of isolation from family and friends, and feeling like their home environment has been eclipsed by online school.

“We’ve never done this before, where everything is done online. The mental strain [on] students, they just don’t understand it. We’re stuck inside, we can’t even go see friends, we can’t go out,” said Brouillet. “Combining the two environments has been a catastrophe and much more than the average college student is ready to cope with.”

“It’s just school, school, school. I don’t have enough time for myself to focus on my mental health … I don’t have a life outside of school right now,” said Mauge.

General Coordinator of the CSU Isaiah Joyner said the CSU is working towards resolving issues around Proctario, COLE, and looking into pushing for pass/fail options.

“With more and more problems arising, it’s showing [that] although we are [almost] completely remote … this is still not the remote learning that is conducive to the student community.”

“We need some reassurance that this won’t have a lasting effect on our Masters, our internships, our GPAs,” said Joyner. “For those people that have been drastically affected given all those varying circumstances and needs, we need some type of support.”

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

Categories
News

Untold Concordia features anonymous stories of discrimination

Anonymous co-creator speaks about how the page can validate student experiences

Untold Concordia is an Instagram page that features anonymous submissions detailing stories of oppression, such as racial, gender, and sexual discrimination by Concordia faculty members and student organizations.

One of the two creators behind the page agreed to speak with The Concordian under the condition of anonymity. They told us they started the page after seeing how popular the Untold McGill page became in early July.

“The [McGill] page was getting so much traction and so many people seemed to have a desire to have a space to share stories like this, [we thought] that was probably shared at Concordia, and we were right,” they said.

As the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum in the early summer following the death of George Floyd, conversations revolving around discrimination came to the forefront. The goal stated on both Instagram pages is to highlight experiences of oppression and discrimination at the respective universities.

“Your experience is valid,” reads the first post. “Submit your stories and help create a platform for others to be heard.”

All posts are referred to as submissions rather than complaints. The co-creator told The Concordian the page is not affiliated with Concordia University and the submissions “aren’t complaints in any official capacity.”

One of the posts describes witnessing how a professor teaching a sexuality class did not use the right pronouns for one of their students; another describes being severely let down by the Concordia administrations’ handling of their sexual assault complaint.

Anyone can anonymously fill in a submission form by clicking the link in Untold Concordia’s bio. They can also choose if they prefer to keep the comments on or off on their post.

“We never ask them to reveal their names and we encourage them not to reveal the names of anyone involved … for their safety and our own,” said the co-creator.

“Some of these accusations can be relatively serious, and we want it to be truly up to the submitter if they do want to file formal complaints. They have the lee-way to do that without any of these submissions coming to hurt them in that process,” they said.

One of the issues with anonymity is determining the validity of the complaints. From the beginning, both creators discussed this issue and what to do if someone were to try trolling them.

So far, the posts have all been believable. Both creators are members of minority groups who have experienced “varying levels …  of oppression and systemic oppression within the University and outside, and coming from that place, you can kind of tell.”

Because the account isn’t an official complaint forum, anonymous users can feel free to describe the experience according to their understanding.

“They’re not meant to be perfect, factual re-accounts of events that happened. They are people’s perspectives; they are all true in their own way.”

“I’ve never seen one that I’ve been like — I don’t believe that — every single one of them to me is truly believable,” they said.

The posts speak to the larger issues of discrimination.

“The university is a structure like every other built on centuries of oppression that is rooted in Canadian history and much of the world’s.”

They feel some of these posts don’t refer to instances of “active hate and active oppression, but they are people not realizing how harmful what they say is and how harmful what they’re doing is just because it feels normal to them.”

“A few of our posts have been around the subject of various professors using slurs in quotations or in discussions, and saying ‘since I’m referencing, quoting a text is allowed.’ Students who are directly affected by the slurs feel very uncomfortable.”

Just this week, University of Ottawa part-time professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval was suspended and later apologized for using the N-word during an online lecture after a student made a formal complaint. Several professors and government officials are weighing in on this issue, with Legault denouncing backlash against the professor.

They said many submitters have thanked them for the page, especially as many submitters have tried to file formal complaints and it is difficult to get through.

Concordia Student Union (CSU) General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner said that the process of submitting a complaint against someone with the University can be challenging for students.

“The whole overall process [for complaints] is not student friendly, it’s more bureaucratic…it’s very rare that you see the effects yielding the result in the favour of what the students want.”

The co-creator of the account said they would like Concordia to realize students are turning to anonymous means to voice their concerns.

“Eventually, maybe, Concordia will kind of realize that there are so many students that feel uncomfortable reporting these instances and that these instances are more harmful than they think they are, [and] maybe take action for that.”

“For these young people who are for the first time stepping into their own, there needs to be ways for them to express how they feel and how they’ve been harmed that is more streamlined and … accessible,” they said.

Concordia Spokesperson Vannina Maestracci released a statement to The Concordian on Untold Concordia: “Although we understand that some prefer to use social media anonymously to be heard, we’d also encourage all members of our community, if they want, to take advantage of our internal accountability mechanisms so that we can properly address these issues.”

“Complaints brought through our mechanisms are treated confidentially and independently and can be addressed in a variety of ways, including with support services, depending on what a student wants.”

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

Categories
Concordia Student Union

A petition proposed by a CSU councillor seeks to defund The Link and CJLO

Both organizations told The Concordian that allegations in the petition questions are unwarranted

 

Disclaimer: The Concordian is a fee-levy organization and Hadassah Alencar also works for the CJLO news team.

Petition questions calling to defund student-run publication The Link and campus radio station CJLO were presented by councillor Tzvi Hersh Filler to the Concordia Student Union (CSU) during a regular council meeting last week on Oct.14.

Added to the agenda the night before the CSU meeting, allegations against the two fee-levy organizations caused alarm among the organizations, other fee-levies, and some CSU members.

The first question claims, “The Link has run smear campaigns against those who tried bringing the opt-out system online.” The second asks, “CJLO is attempting to sue the CSU to prevent online opt out, do you support removing CJLO‘s fee levy?”

The petition lacks clarification and proof of the claims, with both organizations telling The Concordian the statements are unwarranted.

The Link’s Editor-in-Chief Marcus Bankuti provided a statement to The Concordian, saying, “Councillor Filler’s claims of smear campaigns are baseless. We stand by the integrity of our reporting.”

Filler would not provide a comment on his claim against The Link “due to ongoing litigation.”

When asked how he will collect signatures if he cannot elaborate on the reasoning behind his question, Filler said, “I would expect that well before next semester, the relevant processes would have been resolved, and I would be able to answer those types of questions.”

He expects the litigation will be resolved before the Winter 2021 semester, and said he would “likely” speak on the allegations in the near future.

Filler said the intention of presenting the petition questions was to validate them so that he may collect signatures at a later date. He does not have any “hard deadlines” for when he would begin collecting signatures.

According to the CSU by-laws, a petition is only valid to be added to the referendum if it is first presented to the CSU before collecting signatures. Members are allowed to voice their opinion and give advice on the questions, but the petitioner is not required to take their advice.

The petitioner must then collect 750 signatures and submit them to the CSU before the deadline to add the question to the referendum. Students would then vote on whether or not they support the question.

As for CJLO, Filler plans “on seeing what [CJLO does] before I start collecting signatures, because I really don’t want to collect 750 signatures without a good reason.”

The petition question claimed CJLO was suing the CSU “to prevent online opt-out.”

CJLO Station Manager Francella Fiallos said the legal letter was a “challenge” to the online opt-out process, rather than an attempt to put a stop to it. The letter “was to challenge the way in which the CSU had decided to implement the referendum question, and how the consultation process was insufficient.”

Back in May, CJLO sent the CSU a legal letter to challenge the online opt-out process, given how the CSU was handling the process at the time.

Internal emails obtained anonymously through a request for information showed former General Coordinator Christopher Kalafitidis was working on the online opt-out system with the Concordia administration before he consulted with the fee-levy groups.

In the referendum questions, students voted to have an online opt-out system created “in consultation with all fee-levy organizations.” Kalafitidis said a survey sent to fee-levy groups was a sufficient consultation process, and said that the document he created with the fee-levy’s answers was adequately discussed with the administration.

Several groups, including CJLO, felt that the consultation process under Kalafiditis was not enough.

But this has changed with the current executive team, who began their mandate in June.

“Now we have a very strong relationship with the CSU,” said Fiallos.“We basically felt that the new administration…seem[s] to have an interest to make sure that fee-levy groups are adequately represented in this online opt-out process.”

“Once they came in, we basically said that the injunction was not going to be a relevant factor anymore.”

Filler said he did not speak to anyone from CJLO or the CSU recently about CJLO’s legal injunction against the student union.

Filler speculated on a legal argument against CJLO’s legal letter, speaking on his interpretation of the limitations of the letter: “It strikes me as grasping for straws and unlikely that a reasonable judge would accept it.”

“But in the event that a judge will accept it, how do I remove that obstacle? And the simple answer to that is remove CJLO’s fee[-levy] entirely,” said Filler.

Should CJLO’s position ever change, he plans on collecting signatures with his currently validated petition question.

“In the event that they do, I want to have the right at that point to collect signatures without having to go to present to council. So I’m trying to remove barriers, so the back up steps are ready to be done, in the events that an actual injunction is filed with the Court of Quebec.”

He believes that “The basis of the potential lawsuit is that online opt out affects the CJLO fee, and if the fee doesn’t exist, then online opt-out can’t affect it.”

Fiallos said, “[Filler’s petition] is not going to impact our judgement.”

“It just felt like he was just trying to intimidate us, but the fact is we’re not going to be intimidated,” said Fiallos.

She said that the decision to back down from the suit was based on how Eduardo Malorni, CSU student life coordinator, is handling the online opt-out process.

“He’s talked directly to us several times about this, he’s advocated for the recommendations that we made to the administration … I genuinely feel like it’s a much better relationship.”

The difference is, Malorni has continually directly consulted with the fee-levy groups since starting his mandate as CSU executive. He has dealt with the online opt-out process by discussing and negotiating the process between the administration, the CSU, and the fee-levy association.

Malorni told The Concordian, “We de-escalated the situation because basically they felt that they weren’t being listened to.”

On the night the petition questions came in, Malorni stayed up late answering questions and speaking with several fee-levy members about their concerns.

Malorni is also in charge of the Fee-Levy Review Committee, which reviews all applications regarding fee-levy groups, and said Filler must “give a clear reasoning as to why he is defunding [fee-levy groups], or he believes that they need defunding.”

Chairperson of the CSU Caitlin Robinson referred to the CSU’s Standing Regulation 259, which explains the manner in which a fee-levy is removed. One must simply provide a reason for the petition: “An explanation of the reasoning underlying the request.”

“That being said, although under the CSU’s regulations a petition can be circulated, the person circulating it needs to be very cautious about what they are writing and disseminating because they could encounter legal issues if they are circulating libellous claims,” said Robinson.

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News

CSU Legal Information Clinic hosts information session regarding Quebec’s changing immigration laws

New PEQ laws will come into effect Dec. 31 and students are scared

With Quebec updating its PEQ (Programme de l’expérience québécoise) immigration laws in January, the CSU Legal Information Clinic (LIC) hosted an information session to give international students an opportunity to learn more about the new laws.

David Chalk, an immigration lawyer who frequently works with the CSU, was the event’s guest speaker; he detailed a number of the possible ways to immigrate to Canada, but focused primarily on the PEQ. Walter Chi-yan Tom, manager of the Legal Information Clinic, hosted and organized the event.

The current PEQ laws do not require international students to complete any skilled or full-time work before applying for permanent residency; however, after Dec. 31, 2020, that will change.

Students will be required to complete at least one year of full-time skilled work after completing their degree in Quebec to be eligible for Quebec residency.

When the new rules were announced, there was a promise made that students who came to Canada under the old rules would be grandfathered out. That promise is no longer being honoured.

“They did grandfather temporary foreign workers, but they did not grandfather international students,” said Tom.

The changes were supposed to occur in June of this year, but a series of student-led protests pressured the CAQ to push the deadline back to Dec. 31.

The changing rules have made it difficult for many students to plan for their future in Canada. In the Q&A portion of the info session, many students asked if they would be able to apply for the PEQ under the current rules if they graduate this fall.

Students who graduate this year and are able to get the required certifications and documents will be able to take advantage of the old rules.

“But if you’re graduating only after the fall semester, it will be a pretty tight squeeze,” said Tom.

If these students cannot get the required documents from the university before the end of the fall semester and apply prior to the 31st, they won’t be accepted under the new rules.

“Unless the universities are going to make an exceptional effort to get all this out to the students,” said Tom.

At the moment, it is difficult for students to understand whether they meet the current requirements at all.

“The government of Quebec has done very funny things with this because they are only putting out the new form on their website, even though the rules are not yet enforced,” said Chalk.

Tom highlighted how important it is for the CSU to host these events and keep students informed.

“The CSU is all about empowering students, defending the rights of international students because [they] are the most vulnerable in Concordia, anyone who has temporary immigration status that can be taken away in an instant.”

In terms of students’ reactions to the changes, “They are freaking out,” said Tom.

“The reason why [international students] are here is so they can get their permanent residence. They believed they had a chance of getting permanent residency based on the rules when they came in.”

About 50 students attended the event, which was hosted as a livestream on YouTube. For students who wish to view it it can be found on the CSU’s YouTube channel. 

 

 

 

 

Update: Dec. 10: After lengthy discussions with the CSU graphic designer, who requested @the.beta.lab’s original graphic be removed since it included a version of the CSU’s old logo. The Concordian agreed to replace the original graphic with documentation from the live event.

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News

University removes deadline for community feedback on their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion plan after pushback from the CSU

The CSU criticized the university’s limited deadline and consultation process with student associations

Concordia University removed the due date for community feedback on their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) plan after a Concordia Student Union (CSU) press release deplored the university’s limited time span for outsider input.

The EDI plan is a three-phase process that is aimed at implementing equitable hiring practices, increasing diversity, and fostering an inclusive environment on campus.

Phase two of the EDI plan ran from Sept. 2019 to Oct. 2020, culminating in a 32-page report recommending how the plan should be implemented. The report was published by the EDI Working Group, a group mostly consisting of Concordia staff members.

The Working Group released the report for community input on Sept. 10, as part of the last step in phase two before proceeding to the third phase in November.

Initially the university gave a 10-day limit for community input on the recommendations made by the Working Group. This was planned to run from Sept. 10 to 20, which the CSU called an “exclusionary and flawed process.”

“There has been little publicity on this important process,” read the release, published on Sept. 16.

According to Concordia University spokesperson Vannina Maestracci, the deadline was removed around Sept. 17.

Following the press release, the CSU met with Lisa Ostiguy, Chair of the Advisory Group on EDI and Special Advisor to the Provost on Campus Life.

Ostiguy said the intention behind the limited deadline was not to limit feedback, but had to do with the pre-set due date of the EDI’s plan, which is next month.

She said she heard the CSU’s concerns with the EDI plan and process during their meeting together. She said, “we would continue to welcome any feedback, and if the Working Group finalizes their work, it doesn’t mean that the feedback would be lost.”

Any input on the EDI made after the report is complete would be passed along to the third-phase steering committee.

Ostiguy said the university did include student associations’ input throughout the EDI process.

During the second phase, over 40 student groups were contacted by the Working Group and invited to a three-step consultation process in August, which included a video-call information session, a questionnaire, and small group consultation sessions from Aug. 13 to 26.

She also mentioned that Kajol Pasha, a CSU student representative, was a part of the EDI phase one’s Advisory Group and phase two’s Working Group. Both groups had other students in the members list as well.

But according to the CSU and the CSU Legal Information Clinic, more needed to be done to include feedback from student associations.

General Coordinator of the CSU Isaiah Joyner told The Concordian he felt it was problematic that the CSU and other student associations were not heavily involved in the consultation process for the EDI plan.

Joyner said the Working Group did not reach out in a substantial way to centres like the CSU Student Advocacy Centre and the Legal Information Clinic, which “deal with these issues [of racism and discrimination] on the front lines.”

Walter Chi-yan Tom, manager at the Legal Information Clinic, said he is a “frontline worker” in helping students and faculty with issues relating to racism and discrimination.

Tom told The Concordian that the majority of the discrimination complaints he deals with are made by university employees on issues they face in the university workplace.

“Thousands of files we have gone through over the past ten years, they don’t even see that we are important enough to be interviewed as a stakeholder?”

The Legal Information Clinic was not included in the list of 40 student groups that were invited to the three-step consultation process in August.

He says throughout the entire EDI process there was minimal contact to get his input, or for any student associations’ input, compared to the input faculty had on the plan.

Last year’s Advisory Group report states that student associations were “contacted” for input; Tom said what the Advisory Group’s report means by “contacted” is that an email was sent.

“Bottom line, there wasn’t any real consultation or communication,” said Tom.

As the EDI moves into its third-phase — implementation — Tom questioned the report’s general recommendations.

“They are more recommendations on the principles, not necessarily the specific measure[s] for implementation.”

The CSU’s press release listed what they see as “serious flaws” in the Working Group’s report, including no reference to Quebec’s Act of respecting equal access to employment in public bodies, “which requires, among other things, Concordia, like all other universities, to identify and remove systemic barriers to equitable representation of women, Indigenous people, visible minorities, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in different job categories.”

The press release also stated “that a quick search of the term ‘systemic racism’ or ‘systemic discrimination’ in the report produces no results.”

However, on the report it does state, “We commit to dismantling systemic historic and continued discrimination and inequities at Concordia University.”

In a statement to The Concordian, Maestracci said, “Over the two years, the extensive community consultation opportunities included a survey completed by 700 students, information sessions and six days of consultations in small groups as recently as this August and which included students.”

“The opportunities to take part in the EDI conversation were communicated widely to the Concordia community,” said Maestracci. 

 

 

Visuals courtesy of Concordia University

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Concordia Student Union News

New policy will keep CSU representatives accountable

After two long years of pushing the new sexual violence policy through, it’s finally official

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) voted in a new policy with a survivor-centred approach towards handling sexual misconduct involving CSU representatives.

Following a meeting on Sept. 23, the new policy was officially put in place and acknowledged in the CSU bylaws.

This policy was initially voted on in the 2018–19 academic year; however, after a failure to enforce it in the bylaws and delays due to leadership issues, the policy has never fully been enforced. This situation is now rectified.

The policy pertains to any complaints that involves CSU representatives in matters of sexual violence and harrasment, stating, “Creating a Sexual Violence Policy (the “Policy”) will ensure that allegations of sexual violence involving CSU members are properly addressed and that every CSU member is made aware of their roles and responsibilities regarding the prevention and response towards sexual violence.”

Eduardo Malorni, the CSU’s Student Life Coordinator, spoke to The Concordian to explain the circumstances around which the policy was voted in, and the urgency felt within the CSU. Previous to this new policy, there was no way of holding the student union accountable.

Malorni said, “Other than handling it individually one-on-one, or trying to work it out behind the scenes, there was nothing [in place] for a student to make an official complaint against a CSU representative.”

Each complaint will be evaluated by the committee members, who remain separate from the CSU.

“The committee members are someone from the judicial board, a student-at-large that was appointed, someone with experience in sexual violence, an investigator/HR person that has experience dealing with this, and the last one is someone on the Standing Committee of SMSV [Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence] from the university,” explained Malorni.

This policy and procedure is very different from Concordia’s policies related to sexual violence. When there are complaints of a sexual nature to be made that do not involve a CSU representative, the university will be responsible for said investigation.

In addition to a new way of handling complaints, this policy also enforces a mandatory consent training for each representative. This training module was the main point used to delay the implementation of this policy.

According to Malorni, ”[CSU members] were casually mentioning how failing or not attending consent training [should not] be a reason to get removed from the CSU; they were implying it wasn’t an impeachable thing.”

However, most CSU representatives were very eager for the training, and saw it as an opportunity to learn.

“There’s always going to be a few people who think it’s a waste of time. Sometime[s] there are people who are generally curious and they ask questions,” said Malorni.

 

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News

Canada’s first BioHub opens at Concordia University

District 3’s co-working lab merges science and business

Where can scientists who are looking to bring their research to life go? District 3 has opened a state-of-the-art BioHub at Loyola Campus. The BioHub features wet and dry laboratories and a collaborative working space, with the goal of equipping researchers with the necessary tools for finding their research-market fit.

Based out of Concordia, District 3 offers programs and services for experiential learning. Through a collaborative business model, they aim to foster innovation, form communities, and have a global reach.

“The BioHub was created so that scientists can build their prototypes and products by having access to a state-of-the-art wet lab,” said Xavier-Henri Hervé, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of District 3 Innovation Centre. “Through our programs and coaching, they also gain the knowledge, skills, and network to build a viable business with the potential for global impact in biotech and healthcare.”

Through various programs, such as the Launch & Grow Program, District 3 enables scientific entrepreneurs to build their product, assess their place in the market, and “scale their startup for global impact,” via one-on-one coaching, workshops, and access to labs.

“Many scientists want to have an impact through their research,” said Ana Fernandez, PhD Life Sciences and BioHub Coordinator at the District 3 Innovation Centre. “Entrepreneurship gives them an outlet to have a faster and more direct impact through commercialization of their research.”

Co-founded by Collin Horner and Claudia Penafuerte, Cura Therapeutics is a BioHub startup in the Launch & Grow Program. They are focusing on developing innovative immunotherapies to cure cancer and infectious diseases that prevent relapses and disrupt tumours’ blood supplies.

“[Cura Therapeutics’] technologies harness cytokines to create multi-functional proteins with potent anti-cancer and anti-viral properties,” explained Penafuerte. Cytokines are signaling molecules that regulate immunity by stimulating the movement of cells towards an infected area.

Our Immunotherapy can be used alone or in combination with a wide range of targeted therapies or cell-based therapies” said Penafuerte.

Cura Therapeutics recently announced the closing of their $1.55 million pre-seed financing round. Pre-seed funding, which takes place early on in the stage of product development, is money raised to help develop prototypes of products.

“Building a biotech startup is extremely challenging and requires people with different specialties to succeed,” said Horner. “An ecosystem is everything; having the support from District 3 is invaluable for us.”

Open to all scientific entrepreneurs in Quebec and across Canada, District 3 will help from the beginning of their idea, all the way through to the final stage of building a business with a global impact.

“At District 3, we are building the backend for the burgeoning bioeconomy through collisions with talent, research, government and industry,” said Hervé. “Our vision is for Quebec and Canada to be global leaders in this revolution.”

The BioHub Program begins Oct. 12, 2020. Scientific entrepreneurs completing or holding a Masters, PhD, or Postdoctoral degree in STEM fields can apply at district3.co/program/biohub/.

 

Graphic by Lily Cowper.

Categories
News

How are Concordia’s clubs adapting to the pandemic?

From esports to cheerleading, the clubs at Concordia have a lot to offer

For many students, a big part of the university experience is joining a club. Participating in any club can help students gain resume-worthy skills, build new and long-lasting friendships, and really just make life at university more memorable.

Clubs are facing hurdles to engage new students and continue their legacy during this “new normal” year. The Concordian spoke to several Concordia clubs to ask how they’re adjusting to the changes the pandemic has brought on.

The Concordia Debate Society was able to quickly switch their weekly meetings to an online platform when quarantine began. Violet Maxfield, Vice President of Internal External for the club said that she was able to continue participating in the debate practices even when she moved back home to Boston in March.

Maxfield said the adjustment has been challenging for new members.

“For people who don’t know what debates are like in person and they’re just there online, it’s just more difficult, because it doesn’t feel as fun as it normally does,” she said.

Omar Salem, Vice President of Training for the Concordia Debate Society, added to the issue, saying, “now our biggest concern is trying to keep them engaged, and trying to adapt our program … so it’s more encouraging to the more novice debaters.” Salem explained that meetings on Discord are organized to help answer questions and guide new recruits.

“We’re trying to tailor those meetings … so that they’ll be able to learn, improve, [be] more professional, and gain some more expertise.”

Debate teams operate in a structured style, with two opposing teams having 15 minutes to prepare and present arguments that are either for or against a motion. Motions can be on any topic from philosophical to scientific, said Salem.

The team practices in weekly online meetings on Discord, and sometimes on Zoom, to prepare for tournaments against other universities. Isaac Finkelstein, the Executive of Communications for the Concordia Debate Society said, “the pluses are that anyone can join from anywhere, and it’s more convenient.”

For the Concordia Esports Association, the transition to a completely online platform was not as easy as it may seem. President of the Concordia Esports Association Patryk Surowiak argued that it would be wrong to assume gamers haven’t been affected by the changes in the pandemic, saying, “People could say it didn’t affect us at all but in reality, it has made a major difference.”

Surowiak lamented that they cannot bond together like they did in previous years. Last year the club hosted a watch party for the League of Legends World Championship, which started at 7 a.m., and 150 students attended.

He mentioned that the yearly CSU club fair was an event where he would be able to meet and recruit new members.

“We can’t participate in the yearly club fair and make these friendships, bonds, and connections with people who want to join on day one, we have to interact with them solely through online.”

Now the club needs to advertise through alternative platforms, which they didn’t need to before. Surowiak said part of the difficulty in reaching out online is because not everyone will actually read their emails or social media posts.

The Concordia Esports club has a Discord server with about 700 active participants. The club also has teams to participate in collegiate esports leagues that compete against other universities.

This year, the esports club will help fill in for the missing in-person sports by partnering with Concordia Recreation to host three different online intramural leagues with video games such as League of Legends, Valorant, and FIFA20. The competitions are open to all, and require teams to sign up online.

For the Concordia Ski & Snowboard Club (CSSC), an online version isn’t possible. President of the CSSC, Luke Martin, said they were brainstorming options for the new year.

The CSSC is open to Concordia students and Montrealers alike, and in non-pandemic years club members paid a $10 deposit fee to purchase discounted trips to ski resorts. These weekly one-day trips transported about 100 people to the mountains, with the club even offering some longer weekend outings on occasion.

Martin said they were thinking of possibly becoming a ski ride share “where people can use us as a mediator to get people to go skiing.”

“We are still planning on running trips but just with less people to be properly socially distanced,” Martin added.

Martin said they are waiting to make any concrete decisions. First they need to see how the pandemic will unfold during the winter and if the resorts will be able to open.

The logistics of organizing and planning online events is also an issue that the Concordia Real Estate Club (CREC) is facing. The club’s main events of the year will most likely go online, along with the club’s “CREC talks,” a recurring event where one or two guest speakers talk to students about the real estate industry.

One of their big events is a yearly conference about the real estate industry. CREC Vice President of Marketing, Camille Hamel, argued that it’s difficult to give continued attention to an online conference the same way you do an in-person one. For that reason, they will host the event over the course of a few days.

“It’s really hard online to really connect with people, to engage them, for that reason we are going to hold the conference on different days,” Hamel said.

Hamel said that the CREC isn’t just about connecting students to the real estate industry, it’s about creating a welcoming community space for students.

“It’s so important at uni to have close friends to meet people, because sometimes it can get very overwhelming, just for your general motivation, and also mental health. It’s so much help to have people.”

The Concordia Cheerleading executive team for the 2020-2021. Picture courtesy of the Concordia Cheerleading team

Creating that environment on an online platform has its challenges. Yasamin Fawzi, President of the Concordia Dance Club said that the team is focusing on moving to a digital platform.

“Some people embrace, some people don’t, and it’s hard to guarantee attendance with things that are online,” said Fawzi.

The dance club used to organize weekly classes that featured a different dance style every week, and members could show up to any classes they were interested in. With COVID-19, Fawzi said the club is considering Zoom dance classes, and possibly renting studios off-campus for dance classes, where a limited number of members attend.

But the real issue is their legacy: the club is only two years old and both the founding members will graduate this year. On this, Fawzi said, “we obviously have to keep the club alive after we graduate.”

The Concordia Cheerleading team shares the same concern. Monica Knaapen, one of the two captains of the Concordia cheerleading team, said, “when we eventually leave the team and the other vets leave the team we want to basically have a legacy … [that] we’ve established something concrete.”

The club is four years old, and became an ever-growing presence on and off campus, with the cheerleading squad performing at WE Day in Montreal in 2018 and for the first time at halftime at a Stinger’s football game last year. Before that, the team cheered exclusively on the sidelines.

The team captains said they are looking into doing Zoom cheerleading practices. Co-captain Arianne Bellerive mentioned that they still want newcomers to feel a welcoming club experience despite the circumstances, saying, “we want the new girls who come to feel like you’re a part of something. Just because it’s not like what it’s been in the past years, nothing is normal right now, so we want them to feel like it’s a team.”

Visuals by @the.beta.lab

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
Concordia Student Union News

Clashes at CSU meeting underscore the union’s internal division

Members describe a growing “toxic” environment

A contentious last council meeting of the summer highlights the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) divisive internal culture, with some members saying there are accumulating instances of alleged racism and political bias.

The heated exchange happened during the discussion of a motion to publicly condemn the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Unite the Right, and any other groups with “identical goals and ideologies” at the special council meeting on Aug. 26.

Isaiah Joyner, Executive General Coordinator of the CSU, expressed that he did not recall an official anti-racism position in the CSU Positions Book and that the union should take a broader stance on the issue of racism, instead of denouncing individual organizations.

From there Joyner said the CSU could create “a stringent policy within the organization as to what we define as anti-racism, what we define as hate speech.”

The debate turned sour after the now former councillor Christopher Kalafatidis, who resigned during the meeting, accused Joyner of refusing to denounce the KKK, and insinuated that Joyner’s issue with the motion was geared towards the councillor presenting the motion, not the motion itself. The councillor presenting the motion was the now former councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski, who resigned after the meeting.

Levitsky-Kaminski himself alleged to The Concordian that there is political bias against him on council because of his conservative views. “[The CSU] has a history of anti-conservative thought processes and approaches to certain situations,” said Levitsky-Kaminski.

During the meeting, Kalafatidis expressed disdain for Joyner’s opposition to the motion.“I just saw the general coordinator of the CSU refuse to condemn the KKK, because there’s something else we could be doing. That’s a ridiculous reason not to condemn the KKK,” said Kalafatidis. Joyner responded he did not appreciate the accusation that he, as a Black person, would refuse to condemn the KKK. “Think about what comes out of your mouth, before you say it, because it has an effect on people,” said Joyner. “It hurts.” Joyner became visibly distressed and walked away from the video call.

“Honestly, [it was] one of the most racist things that has ever been said to me in a professional context,”

Joyner said, in an interview with The Concordian after the meeting. Joyner denied the insinuation that he only spoke against the motion because of a personal issue with Levitsky-Kaminski. “That I would take something so sensitive to my community, to my culture, and to my experiences in life, and then think that I would put all of that aside, just to stick it to somebody?” Joyner continued.

Following Joyner’s departure in the council meeting, Executive Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero, another Black member of council, said, “This is so heartbreaking, that this is a cycle we have to repeat over and over.” The incident follows a highly contentious summer in which several motions were tensely debated, and members described an increasingly divisive environment.

Former councillor Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin interrupted Mazhero during her speech to ask if the council could keep the discussion “on track.” Chairperson Caitlin Robinson, who mediated the discussion, said she was not going to stop a Black council member from expressing herself and allowed her to continue.

Shortly after, both Kalafatidis and Vandolder-Beaudin left the council meeting video call and sent their resignation while the meeting was still in session, as confirmed by chairperson Robinson. Both Kalafatidis and Vandolder-Beaudin told The Concordian they resigned because they were graduating.

“I just felt like it was a waste of time at that point, and I was going to wait until the end of the meeting, but the moment a motion on condemning the KKK is ripped apart and criticized, that’s just when [I’ve] got to go. I felt like there was no point to being there anymore,” said Kalafatidis, later explaining his fast resignation in an interview.

Several members of the council told The Concordian that situations which come off as inappropriate or alleged racist comments or actions against other councillors are consistent in the CSU.

Councillor S. Shivaane described an incident involving Kalafatidis during a recent diversity training, where he said he never learned anything at these trainings, and left early with Vandolder-Beaudin. Kalafatidis has confirmed this instance with The Concordian, expressing that the CSU needs to do a better job at diversity training.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to do diversity training,” Kalafatidis said. “I’m just really well read on, I don’t know, let’s say, all the theories of racism that currently exist. No one at the [diversity training] has been able to say anything that I haven’t read on the internet before.”

Kalafatidis said he is not concerned about how his words will come off.

“I know at this point that anything I say will be misconstrued in a way that will be used against me. I could say literally anything, like I could even say we should condemn the KKK and I’ll get criticized for that, which is what happened at the meeting.”

S. Shivaane said in regards to Kalafatidis and Vandolder-Beaudin, “I think … their CSU track record [has] been very insensitive when it comes to issues relating to discrimination.”

Vandolder-Beaudin said that these allegations, “seem quite over exaggerated, trying to hurt my reputation when in reality these attacks are just stalling tactics to make sure things don’t get brought up or passed.”

For Joyner, what concerns him is the lack of willingness to communicate and be mindful about speaking on race issues with other members of council.

“People [are] dismissive, they don’t acknowledge their peers. [Council members have] been told ‘I hear you, but I don’t think that that’s an issue,’ or ‘I don’t think that that’s a concern,’” said Joyner. “When you dismiss your peers, or you’re so close-minded that you don’t want to hear your peers, this is a dangerous thing.”

Although Joyner expressed the need for a broader stance on anti-racism during the council meeting, the CSU Positions Book does currently have a position against racism. Joyner said that nevertheless there is a need to “create more [strict], stringent policies,” that would be maintained in the CSU.

At the meeting members agreed with the intent of the motion to denounce groups like the KKK and Unite the Right. But many, such as Joyner, felt the motion needed additional work and could have received more input from other councillors before presenting it to council.

We shouldn’t be doing the brainstorming in the meeting. Take it to the people outside the meeting and work on it together and bring the final product to council,” said Joyner.

Kalafatidis was adamant that the only reason people were against the KKK motion was due to an internal faction rivalry.

“There’s a lot of rivalry on council, and it’s no secret. I’m sure to anybody that the council’s a very toxic place and the reason it’s a toxic place is because there are different factions on council, and to me what happened was it was just a consequence of, you know, two factions — one faction lashing out against another faction.”

The motion to condemn the KKK and Unite the Right was eventually voted to be sent for amendment to the CSU’s BIPOC committee.

“By sending it to other committees it’s not going to condemn the KKK any much more that we needed to do during that meeting,” said Levitsky-Kaminski to The Concordian.

Joyner said that, despite ongoing tensions in the CSU, he does not want the union to be defined by such divisiness.“Anything good that happens is done both (sic) through collaboration which requires parties to come together and to listen, to hear each other, and to understand each other.”

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