theconcordian Tuesday, January 11, 2011
arts music
Centaur Theatre lets its hair down 14th annual Wildside Festival P.10
SUUNS only just rising on local scene P. 13
WANTED: A new president, a new Board Woodsworth lost the Board’s confidence, but do we have any confidence in the Board? Editorial p. 20
Woodsworth resigned: BoG chair
Chair Peter Kruyt releases open letter late Monday speaking on Judith Woodsworth’s decision
life Check out our Bluffer’s guide for cafés, bars and more P. 5
sports A win on the weekend keeps Stingers in first for basketball P. 17
opinions Our top 10 of 2010 P. 22
Volume 28 Issue 16
Sarah Deshaies Editor-in-chief After refusing to make any statements on the Dec. 22 resignation of Judith Woodsworth as Concordia University’s president and vicechancellor, Board of Governors chair Peter Kruyt finally broke the silence in a 953-word message to the Concordia community that in the end, revealed little about the reasons for her departure. The statement said that Woodsworth made
her decision to resign following discussions with the BoG in December, in the midst of positive change and development at Concordia. The letter was released by email and on the online MyConcordia student portal Monday evening. Kruyt said that Woodsworth and the BoG “respect confidentiality agreements in conducting the business of the university” and the BoG is committed to an ongoing 18-month review of “governance issues.” He dismissed suggestions that Woodsworth was forced out because
of “misuse of funds on her part or by her husband” as “simply untrue” and “irresponsible speculation.” The letter comes as several members of the community have voiced dissatisfaction during the first week of classes following the winter holidays. Concordia University Faculty Association spokesperson Lucie Lequin released a statement that thrashed the university on Jan. 4.
See “‘Interim director...” on p.3
Two student groups to talk fee levies at CSU council CJLO looking to add 9 cents to their levy, the Void only asking for 2 cents Evan LePage News editor Two Concordia groups will be presenting proposals to the CSU at a council meeting tomorrow, one to try and increase their existing levy and the other in an effort to create a new fee levy for themselves. CJLO, Concordia’s only radio station, will be presenting to the council a proposal to increase their existing undergraduate fee levy from 25 cents per credit to 34 cents a credit, a seemingly minor increase of nine cents which would amount to somewhere in the area of $60,000 to their overall budget.
According to station manager Katie Seline, the nine cents would largely be put into an expansion fund for the station. “We’ve had two years of incredible growth,” she said, “so we’re hoping now that we can get the support of students so that we can basically become much more sustainable and to encourage further growth.” Seline described four main areas where the money would be put to use: first, in hiring a consultant to examine the possibility of increasing their signal or moving to an FM frequency; secondly, in order to decrease the need for paid advertising; next, the money would allow the station to continue to provide students and clubs certain free resources, like free advertising and training; finally, the funds would allow the station to help maintain their staff and, potentially, pay more of them. CJLO currently has only two
full-time paid employees. “Everyone else is volunteer and are volunteering way beyond what we expect of them which is great,” Seline said. “We’re lucky that we have a huge team of very dedicated people but those people are burning out. It’s tough to run an organization now, this size, purely on volunteer staff with the exception of two people.” CJLO’s current undergraduate fee levy amounts to about 85 per cent of their operating budget, which totals $193,000 a year according to Seline. Most of this is put towards operating costs including land rental for their antenna and a hefty electricity bill. The station succeeded in gaining student support to establish a fee levy over a decade ago, and in 2004 managed to have their...
See “‘fee levy...” on p.2
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