Letter: Why I’m Not Voting for Empower Concordia, and Why You Shouldn’t Either!
One of the largest issues on campus right now is developing safer, more inclusive and accessible spaces, especially for individuals with various gender identities, cultural backgrounds and specific accessibility needs. When the Student Life Coordinator for Empower Concordia said they wanted to host “workshops and speaker series to increase awareness to prevent sexual harassment,” I was happy. Here is a team that I don’t know thinking about these things, but I was curious to know more. It wasn’t until I read the events he plans to host, that I knew it was a façade. Through their lack of content and use of buzzwords, it seems they are just trying to accommodate “trending” topics.
Concordia’s next top model… yes, Concordia’s Next Top Model. I feel as though if you are running for the Student Life Coordinator, and advertising this event, you should be able to answer the following question.
“Can the Student Life Coordinator, please talk about the Concordia’s next top model event? How can you justify an event like this where the heteronormative stereotypes and notions of beauty are being idolized—all while wanting to host awareness workshops and speaker series where you want to increase awareness to prevent sexual harassment? Does this not seem counter intuitive? How can this event be justified to groups like Simone De Beauvoir?”
Empower Concordia’s Student Life Coordinator’s answers, “we are going to make it different, not like the show…” “We are going to have men in it as well…” “It just is…” Personally, I think you should also be able to list of at least two on-campus organizations when asked “do you plan on working with current student services,” instead of the given answer: “we are going to work with clubs.”
Act Together was the obvious winner of both debates, and not only because their answers were eloquently delivered. They won, because they did Act Together, they each knew about the other positions, and could elaborate on their teammates answers. We, as a community, are working toward coordinating and collaborating with each other and not staying within our own small bubbles where topics can’t be properly discussed. Answers should not need to be approved by the General Coordinator. But I digress.
Please do vote. But for the right team. Act Together!
—Jeremy Blinkhorn is the Adjunct to the Coordinators for the Fine Arts Student Alliance
