theconcordian
arts life
Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights: a modern retelling of good and evil P.10
The highs and lows of Canada s medical marijuana system P. 6-7
Voters burst CSU s student centre bubble
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
music The haunting home coming of Montrealbased band Stars P. 14
sports Foul-line heroics by Kyle Desmarais give men’s basketball a win in home opener P. 18
opinions Banning the Frankenbeverage otherwise known as Four Loko P. 21
Volume 28 Issue 14
Graphic by Katie Brioux and Frankie Descoteaux
Page 3, editorial page 22
Shooting for seven out of eight CSU maintains they will follow through on other campaign promises this year Evan LePage News editor With the fall semester drawing to a close, Concordia’s student union has only fulfilled one of the eight campaign promises they ran on last spring. While a second promise, the student centre, has failed, CSU president Heather Lucas is very optimistic that the remaining six will be completed during this academic year. “I am 100 per cent confident that we will excel [at fulfilling those promises],” she said. Thus far, the CSU has completed its promise to hold monthly town hall meetings, though attendance has been low. ‘’We do the best we can by offering free snacks to entice students to come out to tear us a new one, let us know what needs to be done or improved,” she said. “A perfect example would be the student centre, we wanted to hear what students had to say. We would have liked a more engaging experience for the students.” Lucas also said they would soon complete another campaign promise of offering free coffee and snacks during exam period. The five other platforms, however, represent a much larger challenge for the union. “It’s hard to pre-
dict right now when some of these other initiatives will be completed because everything is very dependent on other things,” Lucas admitted. After the university administration signed a new contract with PepsiCo. in late October, it seemed that the promise of a water-bottle free campus would not be fulfilled. But the CSU’s VP sustainability & promotions, Morgan Pudwell, says that this project is not only alive, “it will happen,” as long as students support it. Pudwell said the CSU is meeting with Acting VP Services Roger Cote and Pepsi next week to talk about removing bottled water from campus. They are planning an information campaign on bottled and tap water during the winter semester “to let [students] make their own decisions.” Another option that the CSU is also seriously considering is a referendum on the issue. “What the university has said recently is that the only way they’ll consider it is if we go to referendum and ask students to make that decision,” Pudwell said, adding that the administration had never mentioned this in previous discussions. “Other universities have done that, so that’s why what we’re going to look at doing is bringing it to the elections.” Pudwell did not share Lucas’ optimism about the another campaign promise, the greening of Mackay. The CSU has been trying for over a decade to turn Mackay into a car-free green space. Lucas acknowledged that the project was probably
See “‘Despite setbacks...” on p.3
The students have spoken, and most said no Evan LePage News editor
Nearly 70 per cent of voters defeated the CSU’s proposed student centre fee-levy increase in last week’s referendum. “The students spoke and I respect it,” said Adrien Severyns, the CSU’s VP external and projects, in the minutes following the release of the results. “I’m here to serve them, not command them, and they’ve expressed their will and I’ll respect it.” Severyns attributed the proposal’s failure largely to the current financial climate. Sibona MaDewa, an organizer for the victorious “no” campaign, agreed. “For one, people, if you talk about reaching in their wallets, they will react,” she said. “And secondly, if you want to reach into their wallets without a clear product to give them it just makes
See “‘69% of students...” on p.3
theconcordian.com