theconcordian
Concordia’s weekly, independent student newspaper. Tuesday, Mar. 22, 2011, Volume 28 Issue 25. Sarah Deshaies Editor-in-chief editor@theconcordian.com Brennan Neill Managing editor managing@theconcordian.com Evan LePage News editor news@theconcordian.com Jacques Gallant Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo Assistant news editor Emily White Life editor life@theconcordian.com Savannah Sher Assistant life editor Valerie Cardinal Arts editor arts@theconcordian.com Katelyn Spidle Music editor music@theconcordian.com Kamila Hinkson Sports editor sports@theconcordian.com Chris Hanna Opinions editor opinions@theconcordian.com Owen Nagels Assistant opinions editor Christopher Kahn Online editor online@theconcordian.com Tiffany Blaise Photo editor photo@theconcordian.com Katie Brioux Graphics editor graphics@theconcordian.com Trevor Smith Chief copy editor copy@theconcordian.com Morgan Lowrie Sofia Gay Copy editors Jill Fowler Production manager production@theconcordian. com Jennifer Barkun Francois Descoteaux Lindsay Sykes Production Assistants Board of Directors Tobi Elliott Richard Tardif Ben Ngai directors@theconcordian.com Editorial 7141 Sherbrooke St. W. CC.431 Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 514.848.2424 x7458 (Newsroom) 514.848.2424 x7499 (Editors) 514.848.2424 x7404 (Production) Francesco Sacco Business Manager business@theconcordian.com Marshall Johnston Advertising advertising@theconcordian. com Business and Advertising: 1455 de Maisonneuve W. H.733-4 Montreal, QC H3G 1M8 514.848.2424 x7420 (Office) 514.848.7427 (Fax) STAFF WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTORS: Renee Giblin, Amanda Dafniotis, Marissa Miller, Sarah Volstad, Renée Morrison, Shereen Rafea, Jessica Wei, Daniel Spinali, Stephanie Mercier-Voyer, Nick Forsyth, Thomas O’Connor, Andrew Gilbert, Cora Ballou, Giselle McDonald, Kenny Hedges, Roya Manuel-Nekouei, Hiba Zayadin, Stefano Mocella, Marc Soumako, Eva Kratochvil, Alex Woznica, David Vilder, Nav Pall, Derek Branscombe, Ariel Fournier, Almudena Romero, Sean Kershaw, Arnaud Pages, Amanda Durepos
chaRiTy
theconcordian
Students shouldn’t be the only ones helping the needy Local charity’s stunt indicative of a failure of governance Alex Woznica Staff writer A number of students camping outside the Hall Building made the street their home last week, raising money for Dans la Rue, an organization which provides assistance to Montreal’s homeless youth. While the nationwide Five Days for the Homeless initiative was surely for a good cause, and those who participated should be commended for their dedication and perseverance, the sight of a bunch of university students essentially pretending to be homeless may have offended some. Simulating being homeless trivializes homelessness and might be considered to be in extremely poor taste. While this was surely not the intention of the organizers or participants associated with the event, that result was unavoidable. Those who took part in the Five Days for the Homeless campaign did not spend five days outside in late winter and run the risk of offending the sensibilities of many Concordia students for no reason. Dans la Rue is in dire need of money to fund the excellent and very necessary work they do with Montreal’s homeless youth. This is in part due to the fact that they rely on individual donations for 94 per cent of their annual operating budget, with various government bodies contributing only the remaining six per cent. The fact that Dans la Rue receives so little money from any level of government is to a large extent a result of that organization’s policies. According to Sue Medleg, the organization’s co-ordinator of development, Dans la Rue sees government funding as often inconsistent, and prefers to rely on individual donations. While this is understandable, the fact remains that government funding, however inconsistent, has the capacity to involve amounts of money that simply cannot be matched by counting on individual donations, and can therefore make a much more significant impact on homelessness. It is clear that no level of government active in Montreal is doing enough to provide relief to the homeless, or to provide funding to those organizations that do. Considering it is the duty of the municipal, provincial, and federal governments to provide assistance and essential services
Photos by David Vilder
Concordia students pretend to be homeless to help the homeless. to Canadians under their jurisdictions, this represents a major failure of governance. If those dedicated students who were involved in the Five Days for the Homeless campaign must pretend to be homeless next year, perhaps they should do so in front of City Hall, the National Assembly building, and Parliament Hill instead of at Concordia. In doing so, they could petition those in Canada who have both the responsibility and capability
to consistently provide the significant amount of funds that are required to support groups such as Dans la Rue to the extent that their excellent and essential work both requires and deserves. Improving the situation of the homeless is not the responsibility of private citizens, or even of groups such as Dans la Rue, but of the municipal, provincial, and federal governments.
TRanSiT
No STM deal for ConU students for now Université de Montréal students will get their monthly passes at a discount Owen Nagels Assistant opinions editor Full-time Université de Montréal students living on the island of Montreal will be able to benefit from a discounted (or for some, further discounted) transit pass starting next fall, regardless of their age. But what about Concordia? More students go here than there, and Concordia boasts a much higher studentover-25 population than UdeM. The demographic of our school is very different from the UdeM’s. Out of Concordia’s 24,000 undergrads living on the island, just under half of them are aged 25 and up, compared to only 15 to 20 per cent at UdeM. It would cost a lot more for Concordia students to benefit from a program of this kind, since there are so many more students who would be eligible for the discount. And that’s where the problem lies. The challenge right now is to discuss who would subsidize the lost revenues for the STM.
More than a third of Concordia students over 25 and living on the island buy a monthly pass at $72.75. By handing these students reduced fares, the involved parties would lose over $1 million each semester, the Concordian reported in January in a story about mother and full-time Concordia student Desea Trujillo. She had started a campaign to bring lower transit rates to all students. The Concordian found that the CSU came close to striking a deal with the STM in September 2010 to bring reduced fares to all students, like a U-pass. (This plan grants students a pass for universal transit, which is included in tuition and fees. It’s available at other Canadian universities, like Carleton.) The CSU’s plan was quietly discarded because of the cost to all parties. UdeM’s plan is great news for Concordia because although all students don’t yet have access to reduced fares, plans for something similar may not be completely dead. Allison Reid of Allégo, a Concordia body that promotes walking, biking and using public transportation, says that not only would all students living on the island of Montreal benefit from this, but the STM would greatly profit from it in the long run as well. “Students who use public transit when they are at school are more likely to continue using it after they’ve graduated,” she said. By ensuring more ridership, the STM would in turn secure
more future revenue. It’s a win-win situation. Besides, it just makes good sense to give access to reduced transit fares to all students. Just because someone is over 25 years old, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have more money. The discounts would apply to full-time students and, as we unfortunately know, a student is a student, and most students are perpetually broke. The extra $127 “older” students pay for the monthly pass for four months a semester really adds up in the end it’s an extra $762 for a three-year degree. Students under 25 who currently get the reduced fare will also get a further discount, although it’s not nearly as exciting as that of their older counterparts. For UdeM students under 25, an additional five per cent is taken off their current rate. But there is a perk, and it’s a good one. They wouldn’t have to fill up their Opus card every month. It would all be done automatically for the duration of the semester. Although there is no concrete plan yet to bring this kind of system to Concordia, there are talks of coming to some sort of arrangement. Reid says there may be a chance the school can strike a temporary deal with the city, something along the lines of a 25 per cent discount for full-time students over 25. Although it’s not perfect, it is a step in the right direction. And it’s about time.