Tag: CSU

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

Disclosure: The Concordian is a fee-levy group

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

Archive graphic by Le Lin.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Photo by Jad Abukasm

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU’s General Coordinator possible impeachment

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) held a meeting on March 1 for the potential impeachment of the General Coordinator, Christopher Kalafatidis.

The motion was brought forward by 10 CSU council members: Elizabeth Tasong, Hannah Jamet-Lange, Christiane Sakr, Naomi Barney Purdie, Esther Morand, Jarrad Haas, Maha Siddiqui, Leigh Kusaj, Victoria Pesce, and Lauren Perozek.

They claim that Kalafatidis has failed to address his mandate, by not appointing a Sustainability Coordinator, failing to have student representation on the Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence, and not fulfilling his duties as chair on the Judicial Board, Sexual Violence Accountability Committee and the University Senate.

The members also claimed that Kalafatidis has ignored mandates given to him by council, which has affected the creation of Recovery and Wellness Centre (RAWCC)–a peer support group for people living with addiction.

“I was shocked to hear about this impeachment,” said Kalafatidis, who explained he wished people had given him a warning or asked for corrective behaviour before moving to impeachment. “It’s coming up for things that happened months ago and no one came to talk to me.”

On the issue of the Sustainability Coordinator failing to be appointed, Kalafatidis said that according to the CSU bylaws, it is up to the General Coordinator’s discretion to appoint a vacant position. Kalafatidis also stated that it is then the council’s job to approve of the candidate or not.

“In reality the council has been exercising an abuse of power, it is not in their right to interfere in this process,” said Kalafatidis, who explained as General Coordinator, it was to his discretion how many candidates he picked. “Even worse, they are undermining my rule in the bylaws by saying I should send them three candidates.”

In July 2019, councillors passed a motion asking Kalafatidis to present three candidates for the Sustainability Coordinator position.

Jamet-Lange, an Arts & Science CSU councilor, explained she understood the motion had been revoked by the judicial board, yet still asked Kalafatidis to have three candidates out of good faith.

“He did not bring up another candidate, he never mentioned anything in his December or January reports,” explained Jamet-Lange.“I believe that is going against his job as a General Coordinator.”

Jamet-Lange explained that over the summer, there were issues meeting quorum for appointments committee – which role is to appoint people to other committees – yet Kalafatidis was not communicating when meetings were.

“It really upsets me that I was hard at work in the summer, working with incredible restrictions,” Kalafatidis said, adding that one of the reasons he was unable to fill seats on various councils––such as the Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence––is because there were not enough councillors to meet quorum on the appointments committee over the summer.

“Saying that only appointments committee wasn’t able to meet is skewing the facts a little bit,” said Jamet-Lange, who mentioned that Kalafatidis resigned from the appointments committee because he wasn’t getting the work done.

“He always brings up the argument that we should have come to him first, but that has proven to be difficult,” said Jamet-Lange, who explained that councillors had tried to reach out previously to talk to Kalafatidis about issues and he was not responsive.

Jamet-Lange said that after the CSU meeting when the impeachment email went out, Kalafatidis yelled at her, calling it a personal attack.

“That reaction proved to me that if we had gone to talk to him it would probably not have helped,” said Jamet-Lange.

In regards to the RAWCC, Kalafatidis said the previous executive team had approved a proposal for RAWCC that he deemed not ready to be implemented.

He stated the proposal was for a part-time student to facilitate support group meetings, and the training requirements were very low. Kalafatidis deemed this to be a legal liability, as this part-time student would have to serve over 30,000 Concordia students with little training.

Jamet-Lange stated the main reason they decided to motion for impeachment was because of various complaints about Kalafatidis they had received from students.

“We don’t want to negate at all that he has been doing work,” said Jamet-Lange. “But at the same time, while he did do work, he did not necessarily do the things he is mandated to do by the bylaws and standing regulations.”

Isaiah Joyner, External Affairs and Mobilization Coordinator of the CSU, felt the impeachment issue could have been dealt with in a better way.

“When I look at the impeachment, I see frustration,” said Joyner, who explained this was not the answer the executive team sought. “We had hoped people felt comfortable to seek us out before so we could have dealt with this.”

Joyner explained that he sees CSU members’––council or executive––personal conflict getting in the way of solving issues. He believes council should be a place where issues are solved, instead he sees them creating issues and having to fix them.

“This serves as a motivation for me, as this is not how it should be, this is not the type of issues we should be having, this is not the union that it could be for the students,” said Joyner.

 

Archive photo by Hanna Ewen

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News

$18-million building for affordable student housing

“Not only are rental prices hiking every year but also the vacancy rates are currently at a 15-year low,” Megan Quigley said.

As vacancy rates hit record lows in Montreal, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Unité de travail pour l’implantation du logement étudiant (UTILE) strike back for student rent by opening the Woodnote Collaboration.

The Woodnote Collaboration project will be an $18-million building that will offer 90 units to house a total of 144 students. Though the building will only be built by July 2020, students can apply as of Feb. 5 for the first phase of available units. The building will be located on the corner of Papineau Avenue and Sherbrooke Street across from Lafontaine Park.

“The housing crisis is making finding quality housing particularly difficult for students. Not only are rental prices hiking every year but also the vacancy rates are currently at a 15-year low,” said Megan Quigley, an assistant at the Housing and Job Resource Center (HOJO), in an email to The Concordian. “It can be challenging for students to be competitive renters especially if they do not have credit histories, are new to Quebec, etc.”

Vacancy rates in Montreal dropped to 1.5 per cent in 2019 and are expected to keep tumbling to 1.3 per cent this year, as indicated in an article by the Montreal Gazette. In the meantime, the average rental pricing rate in Montreal climbed to $841 in 2019, an increase of 3.6 per cent from the previous year, reported Global News.

Quigley mentioned to many issues students are facing in regard to housing. “Sometimes we see students who are facing discrimination at the application stage due to their citizenship, immigration status, age, etc.,” Quigley said. “We often see students in precarious or even illegal housing situations, or being subjected to unlawful and predatory landlord practices.”

Other factors include short-term rental companies like Airbnb. A study published in 2019 by McGill University found that those companies take roughly 31,000 housing units out of the Canadian market with thousands in Montreal only, reported the Montreal Gazette.

General coordinator and spokesperson of UTILE Laurent Levesque thinks the Woodnote Collaboration project will help students in need; although the organization still has a long way to go.

“Obviously, 90 units are not enough, and we expect the Woodnote to fill up very quickly,” Levesque said in an email to The Concordian. “We are already working on another 120-unit project, open to students of all campuses, slated to open in Rosemont in 2022.”

The building currently under construction was initially funded by the CSU after a referendum in 2015. The initial $1.85 million from the CSU’s Popular University Student Housing Fund accounted for 10 per cent of the total costs. The City of Montreal also donated $1.6 million. Other investors included the Fond d’investissement pour le logement étudiant, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and Desjardins.

“Our objective now is to start many more projects, because with a housing crisis like the one we’re facing it’s urgent to offer students more housing options,” said Levesque.

Students can send application forms for available units on woodnote.coop.

 

Photo courtesy of UTILE

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU in a flash

The Concordia Student Union has up to 30 elected members and eight elected executive members, and their task is to ensure the interests of students are protected and represented. The CSU can pass motions that involve student interests, Concordia then takes into account those motions.

Each CSU meeting will now be summarized so that you, the reader, can keep up with the union’s business. Get ready for tantalizing motions, breathtaking legal jargon and closed sessions that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Let’s get down to business – this is where CSU goes over various forms of business, like passing motions and approving budgets.

 

  • Fee-Levy committee

For context, fee levies are student-elected groups that get most of their funding from student fees, in the past a student had to go in person to opt-out of paying the fee. In 2019, CSU put the question of opting online onto a referendum, the question passed passed on referendum and is now being put into action by Concordia administration.

The motion was to create a committee that ensured online opt-outs are created in consultation with all of the fee-levy groups, and a report would be created and given to the CSU council and Concordia admin. The motion to create the fee-levy committee passed on Jan. 8.

  • Strike down section 9.1.2 of the CSU Positions Book

The CSU Positions Book outlines the union’s beliefs and stances on many social matters. All points in the book were voted on in a referendum in 2013-14. Section 9.1.2 states that “the CSU endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel’s occupation of Palestine…”

A CSU member motioned for a closed session, where all non-CSU members must leave, but it did not pass.

The motion was to strike down section 9.1.2, a CSU member described section 9.1.2 as “hypocritical enforcement,” adding that it was impractical for the CSU to boycott everything that is involved with Israel.

The motion to strike section 9.1.2 failed, as CSU members pointed out that the Positions Book was a political stance and not a binding contract. As well as the fact that each of the sections in the Positions Book have been adopted by the students-at-large directly through referendum, thus CSU is unable to strike down Position Book sections without a referendum.

  • Bathroom Committee

There was the creation of a committee that would overview the hiring of Concordia’s new cleaning company, as the current one’s contract will end soon. The committee will ensure the new cleaning company takes into consideration student concerns, particularly about cleaner bathrooms. The motion to create this committee passed on Jan. 8.

 

Then, something rare occurred at the CSU meetings: it ended before 10 p.m.

 

Graphic by Ana Bilokin

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU revokes sports shooting club’s recognition following referendum

The Concordia Sports Shooting Association loses CSU status in campus-vote last month.

Concordia University Sports Shooting Association (CUSSA) lost a campus-wide referendum to become a CSU club, on Nov. 15. The debate over allowing sports shooting clubs within the school came to an end when 55.6 per cent of respondents voted against it.

Proponents of the CUSSA argued that guns are not exclusively used to commit atrocities.

Last July, the CUSSA formed after a group of students applied to become an official club registered with the CSU. Almost immediately, the club encountered difficulties with councillors conflicted about authorizing it. Marin Algattus, the CSU’s Internal Affairs Coordinator, oversaw the committee responsible for approving sporting clubs like the CUSSA, which conditionally approved the club for a one-year trial.

She said councillors felt conflicted about authorizing the club, given the ongoing history of gun violence, but remained ideologically neutral.

“We had to put aside our biases even though a few councillors felt hesitant about approving the [CUSSA], we decided the club deserved an opportunity,” Algattus said.

Following the CSU’s conditional approval at the beginning of the semester, the CUSSA hosted four events: two days of training followed by a weekend at the firing range. James Hanna, president of the CUSSA and a CSU councillor, said attendance was greater than expected and the events attracted people from a variety of backgrounds. “We wanted our club to be inclusive and not be that stereotype of conservative white guys going out and shooting guns,” he said. “Everything about it was fun and safe.”

However, in an unprecedented move, a CSU councillor proposed a referendum minutes after pulling out from the committee which initially approved of the CUSSA. Minutes from the meeting show that besides Hanna’s abstention due to his conflict of interest, councillors voted unanimously in favour of sending the club to a referendum. The decision cited the shooting at “[Concordia’s] sister school Dawson,” and ongoing gun violence in the United States as sufficient criteria for a vote.

Hanna believes personal ideologies influenced the CSU’s reluctance towards approving the CUSSA. He said that the CUSSA is a sporting club, not unlike a football or archery club but did acknowledge that the use of firearms could cause controversy.

“I understand why some people objected to our club, but there is a communist club at Concordia, and many people would object to that, but they still get funding,” Hanna said.

Hanna opposed the referendum and said it created a new precedent for future clubs applying for CSU recognition. He said that other controversial clubs, such as those for political parties or movements, never required a campus-wide referendum to obtain recognition. Additionally, Hanna said the CSU’s initial conditional approval and then referendum was unusual.

“First [the CSU] gave us conditional approval, which they never do, and then they removed it through a referendum,” Hanna said. “Is every new club now going to need the support of the student body? It doesn’t make sense.”

However, Algattus said the referendum is not creating a new precedent. She said that CSU councillors are neither influenced by politics nor ideology and that the councillors she worked with are dedicated to neutrality. Algattus said the referendum is an extraordinary option for an exceptional situation.

“Ultimately the councillors decided that because of all the school shootings in the U.S., the student body should be involved,” she said. “I don’t think this is setting a precedent like some have suggested because it is a really unique situation.”

Patrick Oliver, a Concordia student, voted against the club in the referendum. He said that as an American, he is all too familiar with the threat of school shootings. Oliver said the CUSSA’s claims of being an athletic club had no impact on his vote. “A lacrosse team is a sporting club too, but people aren’t going to go there and learn how to use a weapon, it’s unnecessary,” said Oliver.

In the meantime, Hanna said he is dedicated to keeping the club operating and plans further events despite the lack of CSU recognition. “We are still going to the range and will use every avenue to become approved like any other club,” said Hanna. “Guns are never near campus, they are always stored at the range — we are teaching people a sport, not to go out like maniacs and kill.”

Regardless, students like Oliver do not believe approving the club is a risk worth taking. He said that students interested in going to a firing range should do so on their own time and without the recognition of a student organization like CSU.

“Weaponry and schools never go well together,” said Oliver. “Imagine if someone learned how to shoot from a university-approved club and came back to that same university and used them against students.”

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU recap: Nov. 13, 2019

The Concordia Student Union is an elected body of 30 students whose task is to ensure the interests of students are protected and represented. The CSU can pass orders that involve student interests, and Concordia must agree to those orders.

Each CSU meeting will now be summarized so that you, the reader, can keep up with the union’s business. Get ready for tantalizing motions, breathtaking legal jargon and closed sessions that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Let’s get down to business, 

Welcome Week

Welcome Week is part of orientation every September, where students can mingle and get involved, and get to know what the CSU is.

This year, the CSU cut down on costs by approximately $37,000 from last year, with 11,000 students participating in Welcome Week.

The goal next year is to increase awareness of the CSU, by expanding their brand, which means having more merchandise like free agendas and tote bags.

Motions

A motion was sent to the policy committee, a CSU elected group that evaluates the feasibility of motions. The motion stated that students wishing to run for any CSU council position must disclose if they have previously disqualified, cheated or discharged on the voting ballot for all future elections.

This is in response to last week’s bi-elections featuring the comeback of two former elected CSU Executives that had been either disqualified or discharged in the previous year’s general election.

 

Graphic by Ana Bilokin

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU by-election results are in

After the three-day polling period from Tuesday to Thursday, here are the CSU referendum by-election results.

A total of 5167 students voted, representing 16.6 per cent of Concordia undergraduate students.

 

JMSB (first five are elected)
Mitchell Shecter 303 (19.6%)
Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski 256 (16.6%)
Howard Issley 254 (16.5%)
Lauren Perozek 194 (12.6%)
Jeremya Deneault 193 (12.5%)
Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin 185 (12.0%)
Samuel Century 90 (5.8%)
Alice IV. 67 (4.3%)
Gina Cody (all are elected)
Selena Mezher 443 (40.5%)
Sean Howard 387 (35.3%)
Tzvi Hersh Filler 265 (24.2%)
Fine Arts (elected by default)
Peter Zhuang 319 (100.0%)
Independent Students (first two are elected)
Hershey Blackman 50 (55.6%)
Menachem Israily 21 (23.3%)
Rawan Abbas 19 (21.1%)

 

Do you agree with the Concordia Student Union endorsing a Fall Reading Week proposal and pursuing its implementation at Concordia University?

The question passed at 86.6 per cent. The CSU and the University will look into two options to implement a Fall reading week. The university would either start the Fall semester a week in advance in August, or change the semester from 13 to 12 weeks.

Do you agree with the Concordia Student Union endorsing a university-wide food waste reduction proposal and pursuing its implementation at Concordia University?

The question passed at 97.1 per cent. The CSU will look into a program destined to reduce food waste by “[donating] either to the student body or to charitable organizations e.g. homeless shelters.”

Do you support Concordia University bringing the opt out process online for student fee levy organizations?

The question passed at 61.1 per cent. From now on, students will have the option to opt out of fee levy groups online. Before the referendum, students could opt out of those groups by signing a form. Fee levy groups, like the People’s Potato and Sustainable Concordia, are afraid that making the option easier will drastically reduce  their funding.

Do you agree to recommend to the Concordia Council on Student life (CCSL) to increase the Concordia Recreation & Athletics Department’s fee-levy to $5.00 per credit (an increase of $2.08 per credit from $2.92 per credit) annually adjusted to the Consumer Price Index of Canada to be implemented with registration for the September 2020 (2020/2) term, in accordance with the University’s tuition, refund and withdrawal policy? Agreeing to this question means you consent to increasing a mandatory institutional fee beyond the normally allowed rate as set out in the Règles Budgétaires of the Quebec Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

The question failed to pass with 55.3 per cent of students voting “no.” The $2.08 fee increase would have resulted in a decrease in membership fees for Le Gym all year long and the PERFORM center during Fall and Winter semesters. Stingers games would be free.

The Sports Shooting Association has requested to become a CSU club. Do you approve of the club being officially recognized as a CSU club.

The question failed to pass with 55.6 per cent of students voting “no.”

Do you support giving all faculties equal representation on the Council of Representatives by changing the structure to three Arts seats, three Science seats, three Gina Cody seats, three JMSB seats, three Fine Arts seats, and one Independent Student seat?

The question passed at 70.1 per cent. Before the referendum, 13 seats were allocated for Arts and Science students, seven for JMSB students, five Engineering and Computer Science students, three for Fine Arts students and two for independent students. The representation will be three councillors for every faculty plus one for independent students. Arts and Sciences will be divided into two separate faculties. However, the previous distribution of seats was proportional to the number of students in each faculty. Arts and Science had a bigger representation as they form almost 50 per cent of Concordia’s student body.

The last question was not disclosed online. The CSU was asking students if they agree to a $0.08 increase towards club funding.

The question passed at 54 per cent. During council meeting on Nov. 6, councillors explained that such increase would benefit the CSU by better funding clubs and reducing deficits. Furthermore, they would hold clubs accountable of their expenses by setting rules and regulations on spendings.

 

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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Concordia Student Union News

Anonymous council members accuse CSU Executives of power grab

Misrepresentation, inter-faculty tension and lack of transparency in next by-elections according to anonymous council members.

In an anonymous statement to The Concordian, a group of Concordia Student Union (CSU) councillors is accusing some executive CSU members of trying to increase the executive team’s power while fostering a culture of inter-faculty tension with the referendum question titled Council Change as its tool.

According to the statement, not enough students chose to run for the CSU. However, instead of focusing on mass outreach on campus to promote involvement, the CSU implied that conflict between faculties is the source of that issue.

The question, previously named Faculty Equality, suggests a restructuring of the council by reducing the number of councillors from 30 to 16. At the moment, 13 seats are allocated for Arts and Science students, seven for JMSB students, five Engineering and Computer Science students, three for Fine Arts students and two for independent students as voted by the CSU on Oct. 23.

The new structure would allow only three councillors for every faculty plus one for independent students. Arts and Sciences will be divided into two separate faculties.

“More councillors just means more chaos. And chaos is inefficient,” wrote CSU President Chris Kalafatidis in a message to The Concordian. “Chaos means not being able to hold the Executive accountable.”

But the anonymous statement claimed that having fewer councillors translates to fewer opportunities for students to get involved in university politics, a lack of efficiency within the CSU and a lack of accountability on the Executive.

“Currently, the CSU has approximately 15 committees which all hold about four to five seats each. A reduction to 20 councillors may lead to a lack in quality, efficiency and impactful work,” read the statement. “This is immensely detrimental for students as these committees provide funding and services to the undergraduate body.”

As for accountability of the Executive team, the statement refers to this situation as “unfair distribution of power,” and says it would not properly represent the student’s interests. Kalafatidis thinks otherwise.

“The current council requires JMSB, Gina Cody, Fine Arts and independent students to strictly rely on the Arts and Science coalition to get anything done,” Kalafatidis said. “The current council only represents Arts and Science.”

However, seats are allocated proportionally to the number of students in each faculty. Arts and Science has a bigger representation as they form almost 50 per cent of Concordia’s student body.

The statement also accused the CSU president of trying to “gerrymander Council and make it seem socially acceptable by adding the word ‘equality’” in the question. The referendum question was renamed Council Change by the CSU.

Second chance for two by-election candidates

After the last CSU’s general elections, Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin was disqualified for asking students to vote for her slate, Cut the Crap. As a punishment, she could not run again in any CSU elections for a period of one year. However, the Judicial Board reversed that decision according to Kalafatidis.

A few months later during the summer, Selena Mezher, elected CSU Sustainable Coordinator last general elections, left the country which resulted in many reactions. One of the anonymous councillors said that Mezher failed to advise the CSU that she would be leaving and ignored everyone’s attempts to contact her which resulted in a defunct resignation. However, Kalafatidis said that Mezher committed no offences or violations, and never took any pay from the CSU.

A few months later, the two are running as CSU councillors in the by-elections which began on Nov. 12.

The anonymous councillors are requesting that previously disqualified or fired members wishing to run for CSU positions must include a disclosure on their ballots about the date and nature of the offence for all CSU elections.

“We believe that all students should have the right to participate in student life, however, being transparent and assuming responsibility for their actions is a good start towards accountability, something we value as councillors,” read the statement.

A motion will be voted at the CSU council meeting on Nov. 13 to set rules on penalties for candidates that previously committed offences. If passed, candidates will be forced to disclose those offences on ballots.

 

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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News

Concordia announces plan to divest

The Concordia University Foundation announced its intention to withdraw all of its investments from the coal, oil and gas sector before 2025.

The Concordia University Foundation plans to be the first Quebec university with 100 per cent sustainable investments within five years. Currently, $14 million of Concordia’s $243 million assets is going into the coal, gas and oil sectors.

“We believe that being socially and environmentally responsible in our investments is the surest way to be Concordia University’s best possible fund management partner,” said Howard Davidson, Chair of the Board of the Concordia University Foundation, in a press release Friday. “Investing in sustainability is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”

While Concordia cancelled classes for the climate strike on Sept. 27, some questioned why the university still invested in fossil fuels, as pointed out by Jacob Robitaille, internal coordinator of Concordia’s La Planète s’invite à l’Université in a previous interview with The Concordian.

“It doesn’t send a straightforward message,” Robitaille said of Concordia’s environmental position.

But now, the university is aiming to double investments that generate social and environmental impact with a financial return. For instance, Concordia partnered earlier this year with Inerjys Ventures, a global investment fund promoting the adoption of clean tech.

“It’s a social movement as much as a financial one, and this announcement has a lot of power for the climate justice movement across the country,” said Divest Concordia representative Emily Carson-Apstein. “We’re looking forward to keeping the students updated as this process goes on.”

“Promoting sustainability and fighting climate change are priorities for the Concordia community,” said Concordia’s interim President Graham Carr in a press release. “Our researchers, students, faculty and staff are all engaged around this issue and want to be part of the solution. The Foundation’s commitments are crucial next steps in our sustainability journey.”

Student organizations, such as Divest Concordia have long advocated for the withdrawal of the university from those investments. In a previous article for The Concordian, Alex Hutchins reported that since its creation in 2013, Divest Concordia has been continually pressuring the foundation to freeze its assets.

In 2014, the student-run group joined forces with the CSU to create the Joint Sustainable Investment Advisory Committee (JSIAC). Now, they see their own $10 million investment in sustainable funds from 2017 as laying the groundwork for the university’s decision, Divest Concordia explained in a statement sent to The Concordian.

“This has always been an issue of priorities, and it’s great that the foundation agrees with what the students have been shouting about for years,” said Emily Carson-Apstein, the Divest Concordia representative on the committee. “It’s a social movement as much as a financial one, and this announcement has a lot of power for the climate justice movement across the country. We’re looking forward to keeping the students updated as this process goes on.”

Long-time member of Divest Concordia Nicolas Chevalier agrees. “Concordia has finally decided to listen to the voices of the student body and align their investment portfolio in a way that doesn’t fund our collective demise. Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time, and the institutions that produce research on this crisis should strive to align their operations with the science, fossil fuel divestment is no exception.”

Divest Concordia members work across multiple environmental advocacy organizations. Hania Peper, a representative of Divest Concordia and LPSU (La planète s’invite à l’Université), was hopeful in the wake of Concordia’s decision: “Last week, Concordia took its first true steps towards addressing climate injustice by divesting from an industry that has been funding both climate change and the degradation of human and environmental communities all over the globe. While the ripple effects of this decision have yet to be seen, I’m hopeful that this can serve as inspiration for other Canadian universities to follow-suit and begin divesting from fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.”

This article is an updated version from a previous article published on Nov. 8

Feature graphic by @sundaeghost

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU online fee levy opt-outs reached referendum

Fee-levy groups may lose significant funds after the upcoming referendum. “That would mean [serving fewer] people. People that sometimes really need it,” said Ian Herrera, member of the board of directors of People’s Potato.

Concordia students will go to the polls from Nov. 12 to 15 to vote on six referendum questions the Concordia Student Union (CSU) is putting to the ballot with online fee levy opt-outs, raising many concerns across the university.

Fee levy groups are student-run groups, semi-independent from the CSU and are elected through referendum. They include The Concordian, The Link, the Frigo Vert, Cinema Politica, and many more. They are not part of the union’s student clubs. Instead, they are funded directly by students who have voted in previous CSU referenda to fund them. They give access to multiple services on campus for all students, like food services, student media and environmental advocacy centres.

The motion was proposed by CSU President Chris Kalafatidis. However, he explained he is not binding the CSU to his decision since he proposed the question as a neutral student at large.

While students have always had the option to retract their shares from fee levy groups, Kalafatidis wants to facilitate the process.

“It’s always been a part of the deal that ‘we’re all going to pay for this collectively, but we do have the right to opt-out,’” Kalafatidis said. “All we’re doing is embracing technology to make the process easier for everyone.”

The controversial question faced a lot of opposition from CSU councillors and fee levy groups themselves. In fact, none of the 23 groups have expressed support, rather the opposite.

“The way the process works now in person is a positive thing where people can be informed face to face to understand what services we provide,” said Emily Carson-Apstein, a Concordia student employed at Sustainable Concordia. “From there, it’s their decision to opt-out and we’re not critical about that. Moving the system online makes it impartial. It makes people make hasty decisions that they don’t understand the consequences of and it shuts down the conversation before it even starts.”

McGill University switched to online opt-outs in 2007. Students’ Society of McGill University’s President, Bryan Buraga, said that this caused many fee levy groups to struggle with financing.

“This led to a decrease in the quality of services provided by these groups until the opt-out rate stabilized, after several years, to approximately 10 per cent rate of what it is today,” Buraga wrote in an email to The Concordian.

Full-time Concordia students with a four-class course load pay $58.44 per semester for fee levy groups at the moment.

Carson-Apstein explained that students can easily see a return on these fees by occasionally attending offered services, like movie or documentary screenings and eating at the People’s Potato – even just once every two weeks.

The People’s Potato serves free vegan food for students. On average, it serves around 400 to 500 people a day.

“[Online opt-out] would drastically reduce the income that we get and by consequence the number of people that we serve every day,” said Ian Herrera, member of the board of directors of the People’s Potato. “We would have to reduce the serving time. That would mean [serving fewer] people. People that sometimes really need it.”

But Kalafatidis said that if the question were to pass, the CSU would still have to sit down with all the fee levy groups to discuss the new opt-out process. Kalafatidis has yet to consult any of them. An option, Kalafatidis proposed, would be a checkbox system. Students will be required to read a description of the group prior to checking the opt-out option.

The question on fee levy opt-outs was brought up last year by the CSU slate Cut the Crap, which Kalafatidis was part of. On top of opt-outs, the slate also proposed election reform and cleaner bathrooms.

“[Fee levies] are the backbone of Concordia’s culture,” Herrera said. “Concordia’s culture isn’t dirty toilets, it’s this.”

The CSU will also be asking if students:

  1. agree with the Concordia Student Union endorsing a Fall Reading Week proposal and pursuing its implementation at Concordia University;
  2. agree with the Concordia Student Union endorsing a university-wide food waste reduction proposal and pursuing its implementation at Concordia University;
  3. support giving all faculties equal representation on the Council of Representatives by changing the structure to three Arts seats, three Science seats, three Gina Cody seats, three JMSB seats, three Fine Arts seats and one Independent Student seat. At the moment, 14 seats are allocated to arts and science, six to Gina Cody, four to JMSB and three to fine arts;
  4. agree to a non-opt-out fee increase of $2.08 that would result in a 50 per cent reduction of le Gym and PERFORM centre fees and free Stingers game;
  5. approve the Sports Shooting Club to be officially recognized as a CSU club.

 

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Categories
Concordia Student Union News

CSU looking to create more food opportunities at the Loyola Campus

The Concordia Student Union is looking into creating more food opportunities at the Loyola Campus, but is facing resistance with Concordia administration.  

Celeste-Melize Ferrus, CSU Loyola coordinator, wants to collaborate with student groups like the Concordia Food Coalition, an organization that focuses on sustainable food on campus, to use unused spaces on campus to give students more of a variety of food at the Loyola campus.

Ferrus explains that the decision to create more food on campus is not up to the CSU, but to Concordia administration and the Dean, who are open to ideas if they see a demand for it.

Arguably, the need is there. Ferrus argues that there is nothing to eat at the Loyola Campus. But, she said that if Concordia does not see a need for more food at Loyola, the only thing CSU would be able to do is a petition.

“I need more variety,” she said. “I wouldn’t eat Tim Hortons. Eating that every semester for your whole undergrad is really frustrating.”

Other students also feel that Loyola does not have adequate food on campus.

“I feel like it’s lacking in food in a way that doesn’t make me want to stay on campus for very long,” said Avery Jane, a Concordia student who is lactose intolerant and celiac. “It’s a real bummer, having to go all the way out there and then not being able to stay for very long unless I’ve planned in advance and brought my own food.”

The Hive Café, a student-run cooperative that provides healthy and affordable food on campus, does have a location at Loyola and offers gluten-free and vegan options.

Yet, Antonia Neatby, an employee at the Hive, admits this is not enough.

“We are the only place that has gluten-free options, and I think the only place that has vegan options,” Neatby said. “But we don’t have that many options, and we can’t guarantee [zero] cross-contamination.”

Neatby said she has heard students saying that they want more variety in food at the Loyola Campus.

“There is definitely a real desire in the student body to have student-owned and student lead food cooperatives that don’t contribute to things like Aramark,” she said.

Aramark is an American food service provider that has been in a five-year contract with Concordia to provide food services. Its contract is supposed to finish in 2020 with a chance of a two-year renewal.

In a 2015 online statement, Concordia said that Aramark would focus on creating new cafes and restaurants on campus, promising more variety for students.

The statement also mentions how Aramark has created a Tim Hortons and a European-style Market in the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex at Loyola, which offers a variety of foods for students.

“The locations will also feature ‘Get the Good Stuff,’ Aramark’s daily prepared healthy-balanced meals and snacks for students on the go,” read the statement.

Ferrus said that these promises from Aramark never panned out, that all the variety Tim Hortons has to offer is bagels and cream cheese, and the rest of the options are very expensive and slim.

Elias Huckel-Fidalgo, another member of the CSU council, confirmed that the CSU committee is not actively looking into creating more food at the Loyola campus at the moment. Huckel-Fidalgo said that Ferrus is the only CSU member advocating for more food on campus.

 

Feature graphic by Victoria Blair

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