Official ASFA Education Summit Position Delayed

MAs Say Missing Information Slowed Process

NewsAndrew Brennan — Published January 8, 2013

In September, member associations of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations were each mandated to determine and submit a position on the upcoming summit, though many have yet to do so.

The idea was initially put forth by The School of Community and Public Affairs Student Association and was accepted unanimously by ASFA council members.

“The information about which issues would be discussed at the Education Summit, as well as the different solutions and options that would be available in regards to said issues were late in coming,” said Rosalie Di Lollo, Co-President of the Applied Human Sciences Student Association.

The education summit sub-committee was set up by ASFA in October and tasked with providing information to MAs as well as aiding them in holding general assemblies or referenda.

According to Di Lollo, it was “not until late October that AHSCSA obtained the information it deemed necessary in order to hold a GA from ESSC.”

ASFA VP Academic Eric-Moses Gashirabake, Sr., who sits on the ESSC, says that with no more delays trickling down to stop them, he is hopeful that GAs will be conducted by mid-January.

VP Internal of the Student of Philosophy Association Ian Borsuk says that SoPhiA has planned to assemble its members in January, but does not have a specific date.

Similarly, Di Lollo explained in an email to The Link that the AHSCSA will hold a GA sometime this month.

Though he says a vast majority of MAs have already conducted assemblies, Gashirabake Sr. was unable to provide an official list to The Link.

Once MA positions are in to the ESSC, Gashirabake Sr. says questions will be formulated and posed to ASFA members. From there, he says the answers will be tabled into unified views to pass on to the Concordia Student Union.

The CSU is expected to give positions from its faculties as part of a policy booklet for the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec.

The FEUQ, which lobbies on behalf of the CSU and other student university associations, will present students’ concerns next month at the highly anticipated higher education summit hosted by the provincial government.