Dear Governance Review Committee
Please Add Another Student Rep to the Board
Excerpts below are from a letter by the Concordia Student Union’s Board of Governors student representatives to the Ad Hoc Governance Review Committee on Aug. 30.
Concordia has a long history of engaged students and educators […] Students have historically been able to engage in difficult issues, take part in university affairs and influence decisions.
One need only point to recent controversies to illustrate the damage done to the University and to our reputation by ignoring the internal community, particularly students.
Students, for their part, take a considerable amount of pride in being such a powerful force for positive social change.
They have the ability to directly impact the University’s reputation, serve as ambassadors to the greater community when things are well, and are, on the inverse, able to command a significant amount of respect and public attention in the face on injustice. […]
Resolutions made at the Board of Governors directly impact our members. […] Such a dramatic reduction of proportional student representation undermines the important role that students play in the university community and its governance.
It is no secret that our membership is the most deeply affected internal constituency in the context of the proposed changes to representation at the Board level.
We, the current undergraduate student Governors, on behalf of the Concordia student body, feel compelled to address this issue head-on. The proposed reduction is simply unacceptable. […]
It is reasonable to expect that the absolute number of student representatives on the Board should decrease proportionately with the total size of the Board. However, this is not what the Committee has proposed.
Currently there is one student Governor for every 9,000 students, making up 12.5 per cent of the Board. If we
are to maintain this level of representation, theoretically there would be 3.125 student reps.
The recommendation of the Ad Hoc Governance Review Committee to reduce the student representation on the Board to eight per cent, or one student governor for every 22,500 students at Concordia University, this would constitute a 36 per cent reduction in student representation.
Especially when some constituencies have seen increases of 5 per cent or more in proportional representation on the Board, this decrease sends a clear message that the University believes that undergraduate representatives are inconsequential and that their political positions, financial investment and values at this University are not worth fighting for. […]
This recent challenge to student representation suggests an unwillingness to continue to treat students as equal partners. […]
With so many promising opportunities for collaboration in the near future, including the proposed Student Centre project, we find this gesture puzzling and unacceptable.
— The Concordia Student Union
Board of Governors Representatives
