Breaking Ground
Concordia President to Send Letter to Charest
Concordia University Senate voted unanimously to request that Quebec Premier Jean Charest start an unconditional dialogue with student groups, and that Interim Concordia President Frederick Lowy pass along the message.
“I think that this is a very important and powerful step,” said Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill. “Concordia is the first university to call on the minister to negotiate without condition and with all stakeholders at the table to resolve the student conflict.”
The original motion proposed by Fine Arts faculty member David Douglas asked that a letter from Lowy be addressed to Education Minister Line Beauchamp. An amendment was added by Arts and Science Senator June Chaikelson to send it to Charest instead.
“That’s even better. It goes to the premier, that’s her boss,” said Gill. “I think its a breaking point for universities to realize that they also have a responsibility to tell the minister and the premier that they need to show some serious leadership right now,” she added.
It is currently unknown how the letter will be written, but Gill believes it might be the original wording of the final motion, and that the letter will first have to be presented to the university community.
The Trans Identity Project also made progress with an announcement by VP Services Roger Cote that students will now be able to list their preferred name on student records and gender will be removed from forms. Legal last names will remain on all documents.
Despite lengthy discussions at the Senate and Board of Governors meetings this week, there is still a lot of confusion surrounding the finances and governance of eConcordia and KnowledgeOne.
More to come
