Academic Appointments Abound

Council Names New Senators, Gives CJLO New Shot at Fee Levy

NewsJacob Roberts & Brian Lapuz & Adam Kovac — Published September 26, 2011

Four new senators were appointed by the CSU at their first Council meeting of the school year on Sept. 21.

The new senators—Michaela Manson, Gene Morrow, Jaime Kelly and Chuck Wilson—all expressed excitement to The Link for the change they hope to effect.

“I feel in the past that representation wasn’t what it could have been. Hopefully this year we can do a better job to get what students need,” said Manson, who also serves as an Arts & Science councillor.

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the current Gender and Sexuality program offered by the university, which only allows for a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality.

“One of my priorities is making sure that the [major in Gender and Sexuality] program sees the light of day.”

Morrow’s goals are to focus on the Concordia students, saying, “I’m there to be responsive to what senate is doing. I feel like my role there is to observe what is happening in Senate and ensure that students aren’t forgotten.”

Wilson said he would also like to see a stronger student representation in school government.

“I think we need to work with the faculty, because school can’t work without faculty or without students. Students really deserve a place in the governance of the university,” he said.

While Senate added members, Council lost two more. Chair Nick Cuillerier announced the resignations of Erick Ung, who represented independent students, and Stephanie Laurin from the John Molson School of Business.

These resignations followed the announcement last week that councillors John Bellingham and Gregory Syanidis would be leaving their positions.
Council also heard a plea from Judicial Board Chair Cassie Smith for the councillors to nominate more members to the JB, which currently only has one other student sitting on it.

“I really encourage Council and the Exec to take immediate action to appoint as many qualified people to JB as possible,” said Smith. “We’re basically non-functional because we don’t even have quorum.”

Smith pointed to last year’s heated CSU election, which ended in both slates being disqualified, as a moment that resulted in “a loss of faith” in the Judicial Board. The JB ultimately re-instated the Your Concordia slate while upholding the disqualification to Action, a decision that was later overturned by Council.
“I feel like it’s dangerous to the accountability of the CSU as a whole, insofar as JB is a part of the checks and balances system,” said Smith.
“So I’ve been thinking about where the Judicial Board could be more effective […] I think it would benefit the Board to be more active throughout the year and receive training that would specifically qualify us to make these kinds of decisions.”

Also discussed at the meeting were Concordia radio station CJLO’s efforts to have their request for a fee levy increase put on the ballot in November’s byelection. The station had been on the ballot in the last CSU election in April, but was ultimately voted down.

CJLO’s station manager Brian Joseph claimed that their defeat could partly be attributed to a failure on the part of election organizers to properly provide informational materials to voters.

“Last year, during the [CSU] Election, CJLO asked for a fee levy increase of 9 cents [per credit],” said Brian Joseph, CJLO’s station manager. “We had a huge team of volunteers who went out in droves to speak to as many students on both campuses as possible.”

Joseph said that they received a lot of positive feedback from the students they spoke to and that both slates endorsed them during the election.
Last year, former Chief Electoral Officer Oliver Cohen had requested that CJLO provide a brief for students to read at the polling station, but it never materialized. According to Joseph, this might have contributed to the students’ refusal.

“I know that at the voting station that I went to on Loyola Campus, the information was not available,” said Joseph. “Students who were volunteering for CJLO radio told us that the information wasn’t available.”

When CJLO heard the news last semester, they became concerned.

“All groups at Concordia University have a C at the beginning of their [acronym],” said Joseph. “When you are a student and you’re not informed about something and you just see ‘C-something’ and it’s asking for an increase and you don’t know why, then you’re more likely to say no.”