CSU-Admin Relationship History Explains Current Conflict
If the Concordia Student Union’s relationship with the Board of Governors was on Facebook, it would say it’s complicated, to say the least.
Though the student movement has ebbed in the past decade, students are still drawn to Concordia to take part in a unique culture that promotes activism and critical thinking, which conflicts with Concordia’s quest for an identity that never existed.
Since the university’s inauguration in 1974, the infamous Netanyahu Riots became the dark stain on the university’s reputation that, with a push from the university, later led to a more amicable CSU/admin cooperation over the following five years. Communication between the two parties broke down in 2008—which coincided with the fall of the 2003-2008 CSU dynasty.
Until the end of the 2009-10 CSU mandate, the CSU were snug under the administration’s wing, with favourable conditions for students and administrators alike. We can deduce that their relationship turned sour just shy of 2011, well into the second year of status quo.
In a letter to The Gazette published Jan. 14, Amine Dabchy, former CSU president and current Board of Governors member and assistant to Advancement and Alumni Relations, calls the newspaper’s spot-on news reports and analyses “unfair and biased” in lieu of proposing a viable defence. He confirms the student administration’s discontent with the ousted Judith Woodsworth and cites a number of “flagrant examples” of her lack of leadership.
There are two glaring problems with this accusation: first, the student union has had a year-and-a-half-long honeymoon with the administration since The New CSU stepped in. Secondly, to suggest Woodsworth was fired because the CSU presented their worries to the Board is nothing short of wishful thinking. The Board has ignored or denounced every major recommendation or public protest the CSU has sponsored since post-Netanyahu policy revision. Perhaps a select few students’ impressions echoed the Board’s preexisting dissent and thus supported a swift Woodsworth exit. Yes, Woodsworth did state in an interview with The Link in Oct. 27, 2009 that she supported an “American model” for tuition. This would not lead to her demise on a board largely made up of business executives and the affluent. Dabchy is right about one thing: the board’s strategic plan did look like fluff with few concrete execution plans, if any.
Non-academic associations have vocalized their support in the Board’s decision. In reality, past and present Concordians are losing confidence in a board that has had a revolving door of (acting) presidents over the past five years. Their judgment is understandably questioned, considering Woodsworth was the sole candidate the Board’s selection committee presented to the Concordia community.
The academic community, ever on the fringe of university decision-making, was elated that the board had poached former faculty who could bridge the faculty-admin divide and patch old wounds, suggesting a sui generis component to the president’s portfolio. Even to students, Woodsworth was the only accessible (acting) university president in the past five years. As BoG Chair Peter Kruyt attested to, Woodsworth was fiscally prudent and worked in the best interest of the students, both telling characteristics. It is with this reasoning that we are puzzled as to why a touted leader would be let go so miserably.
In a statement released last week, Kruyt stated that the Board defended the university’s position “to do what is best for Concordia.” Is this what is best for Concordia as an academic institution? Because these interests are not one and the same.
Concordia’s biggest challenge for the next 10 years will not be containing student advocacy or protest, but trying to rebuild the ivory tower with ailing pillars.
Concordia’s biggest challenge for the next 10 years will not be containing student advocacy or protest, but trying to rebuild the ivory tower with ailing pillars—a job Woodsworth was tasked with fresh after the Lajeunesse fail.
I’m proud to be a Concordia alumna and want to see my university flourish. I can only hope the university’s most promising populace, its pupils, are not lost in the shuffle.
Terrine Friday is a former Editor-in-Chief of The Link.
This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 19, published January 18, 2011.
