Geography Students – The Concordian

According to protesters, Concordia would be able to divest faster than their target five-year plan.

“What do we want? Divestment! When do we want it? Now!” chanted students from the Geography Undergrad Student Society (GUSS) on Friday during a strike.

The 25 students who gathered at the Henry F. Hall building’s ninth floor were urging the university to divest faster than their previously announced five-year plan.

The Concordia University Foundation sent a press release in November presenting its divestment plan in all of its investments from the coal, oil and gas sectors before 2025, reported The Concordian.

“We want to make sure that Concordia is held accountable in this divestment protest, so making it as fast as possible and have real binding agreements, because historically, they had been kind of lax,” said a student who wished to remain anonymous for privacy purposes with the university. Other striking students asked to remain anonymous and not have their faces shown on camera for the same reasons

In 2016, the university had already established a joint sustainable investment advisory committee to “make recommendations to their respective governing bodies on socially and environmentally responsible investment opportunities” reported Concordia News. The committee included representatives from the student body like the Concordia Student Union, the Graduate Student Association and Divest Concordia.

“The Concordia University Foundation publishes an annual report which includes audited financial statements,” wrote Concordia’s spokesperson Vannina Maestracci in an email to The Concordian. “The Foundation will continue to provide these annual reports which serve to assess its investments.”

The students were handing out pamphlets with their demands that the university be held accountable for divestment at the fastest rate possible through a student-faculty body that oversees divestment, by implementing binding agreements and and that the measures taken would be communicated to students with full transparency.

The protesters claim that Concordia would be able to divest way faster than the planned rate and that a lot of information regarding the process is not publicly shared.

“We believe that five years is the time it will take to replace our remaining exposure to coal, oil and gas,” wrote Concordia’s spokesperson. “If we can do it sooner, all the better. For us, it’s not simply about withdrawing investments from coal, oil and gas. It is also about finding the new investments that are sustainable and benefit our community in terms of research, teaching and charitable programs.”

Students are also demanding that Concordia declares climate emergency in which they would implement more binding language. However, Concordia has already done that last September.

“We signed a climate emergency declaration with nine other Quebec universities by which we committed to more sustainability education and research, and carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest,” wrote Concordia’s spokesperson.

The strike had been previously voted upon unanimously by the GUSS during a general assembly.

“In geography, there’s a desire for climate action in our education and sort of what the professors are learning and researching on,” said the student.

Although no other events have been planned yet, the geography student body said it is not willing to back away until Concordia takes serious action.

Photo by Jad Abukasm

Geography Association given abrupt deadline for move to a smaller office

What started as a request by Concordia’s Geography Undergraduate Student Society to turn a small unused space into a cafe has resulted in the university initiating a room change, leaving the group surprised and unsure of how they will be able to conduct their affairs.

The trouble began when GUSS, noticing their former office on the 12th floor of the Hall Building lay empty, approached the university with ideas on turning it into a student-run cafe.

“We had an idea of making it a little more geography-minded, supplying fair trade, etc. Unfortunately, we put efforts towards that and it didn’t really pan out,” said Pete Johnston, VP External of GUSS. “We were looking at working within what was legitimate and confining it to whatever was in the rules for the lease of space.”

He said the university declined because of a lack of running water, and regulations over office space and health.

While this may have settled matters, they soon received another response informing them that their current office in the TD building above the bank on Guy St., which they share with the Urban Planning Association (UPA), would be vacated and GUSS would find itself back in its old office.

Johnson described their old room as being effectively half the size of their current one, estimated at 11 square metres. Both GUSS and sister society UPA last used the space together three years ago, but Johnson says both organizations have grown since then and it would now be impossible to jam a dozen people for meetings, not to mention furniture and necessary electronics like computers with specialized department software. He also wonders why, if space is the issue, the school isn’t doing anything about empty next-door offices.

GUSS President, Kristen Hirsch-Pearson, said there had been prior discussion with their department about a possible switch, but nothing final or concrete. “The reason why the department felt strongly about getting us back on the 12th floor is because this [current office] wasn’t space they could protect in the future. If we move to the 12th floor, they can guarantee that space for us.”

Throughout, it appears UPA wasn’t aware of the developments, and Pearson says they were not notified of the changes.

“[The university was] talking to us about bringing us closer to our students, that it would be best for the interests of our students, but in my opinion the students were never consulted and the fact [is] that we were abruptly told to leave the space without consulting our membership.” He originally believed the school’s reason for the room change was related to its desire to lease it.

At a department meeting discussing the issue, department Chair Monica Mulrennan explained the matter was primarily a space issue, especially a seeming prioritization of the university’s commitments for research and PhD purposes.

“There’s a commitment from the university to find space,” said Mulrennan. “We are really maxed out on space.” She said the university was trying to find space, but that space exclusivity would have to take a hit overall.

“We asked that we consult the student membership to find out what to do next,” said Johnson, who said they would convene a general assembly in the time available to them—the university eventually agreed to a transition after the exam period—and hold a consultation.

“The two student associations…are probably the last on the department and the dean’s list in terms of relocation. It wasn’t the original intent for [GUSS] to be moved over there—it was the intent given the size of the room and its utility for a researcher with grad students,” said Associate Dean of Academic Facilities Peter Morden during the meeting.

“Were there to be extra space just kicking around you would never have been relocated, and we wouldn’t have had this discussion now … but its just not the case now.”