Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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A kingdom without its Prince CSU president Prince Ralph Osei resigns, VP services Heather Lucas takes over
Calgary pride parade becomes campaign conflict
Prince Ralph Osei (left) and Heather Lucas after his resignation. Photo by Sarah Deshaies though in the end her and the council could not be happier for their former leader. As of Aug. 26, Lucas has officially taken over the presidential position, a promotion she has taken in full stride. Despite being thrown into an unexpected situation, her main focus as president is to follow through with the eight campaign promises set out by the Fusion slate last spring, including fighting any increase in tuition, having a bottle water free campus, and getting the CSU out of the Canadian Federation of Students. “The executives and myself are doing the best we can with the situation we’re in,” Lucas said. “We are working great with the card that has been dealt to us and we are excited for a great year.” Osei maintains that he has full
confidence that this “great year” is fully attainable by the new executive under Lucas. “Heather and the team bring a whole new set of energy to the CSU,” Osei wrote, “and I strongly believe without a single doubt that the CSU is going to new heights this year.” His confidence is shared by former president Amine Dabchy who, in addressing the council in August, said of Lucas “She’s got it, and she’s the person to naturally replace Prince. If you’re looking for a workaholic president, she’ll put her job before everything.” A student at Concordia since 2005, Osei pursued a specialization in psychology with a minor in political science. He was elected VP services and Loyola during the 2009-2010 year. During last spring’s CSU election,
Osei led his slate to a strong majority victory, receiving 73 per cent of the vote. Lucas, a former VP internal of the Arts and Sciences Federation of Associations, ran with Osei on that winning slate. Prince Ralph Osei leaves behind fond memories of his work in student politics at Concordia, from the CSU’s efforts to host two Nobel laureates, to simply trying to give the union a friendlier image. “This group was not just colleagues,” he says of the executive, “they are family to me and to each other.” According to Lucas, no candidate has been selected as of yet to fill in the now-vacant position of VP services on the CSU executive. VP finance-elect Nikki Tsoflikis also stepped down in April. She was replaced by Zhuo Ling, a John Molson School of Business Senator.
CSU presidential decree loans 45k to volunteer abroad program
Evan LePage News editor In one of his last acts as CSU president, Prince Ralph Osei authorized a loan of $45, 000 to the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program through a presidential decree to aid in the purchase of land and eventually construct a facility in Uganda for the organization’s use. Students from Concordia have visited Uganda for the past five years with CVAP and the facility will allow the program to save approximately $45, 000 a year on hotel expenses for these volunteers. “The strategy was that why don’t we build a facility over there that will be used both by our students when they come to Uganda in the summer and when they leave the facility will also be used by the local community in terms of HIV outreach and in terms of reaching out to the needs of the commu-
Evan LePage
Residents living in Bayview, a region of Southwest Calgary, had their mail suspended for nearly two weeks after a family of hawks started “nosediving” a mail carrier in the area. The mailman was pestered to the point where he was forced to wear a bicycle helmet. Unfazed, the hawks just attacked the helmet, eventually managing to break it. The approximately 150 homes who lost service due to the birds are supposed to have their service restored today, but if not they can always wait for migration to take effect.
Money
Money put towards purchase of land, facility construction in Uganda
Nation in brief Somebody write these hawks a hate letter
Evan LePage News editor Students returning to classes at Concordia this week will be greeted by a student union very different than the one they voted in last spring. At a special council meeting in late August, CSU president Prince Ralph Osei announced his resignation in order to pursue his education on scholarship in the Netherlands. During that meeting, VP services Heather Lucas was unanimously voted in by the CSU council to take the helm for the 2010-2011 academic year. “It has been a great honour working for the students that we represent,” a teary-eyed Osei told the council at the Aug. 23 meeting. “It has both been a great experience and a pleasure to work alongside exceptional and dedicated vice-presidents for this year.” According to Osei, the decision to leave was taken in mid-July after “many sleepless nights and days.” From his new home in Holland, where he will be studying for a Masters in psychology and sciences, Osei wrote that despite struggling with the choice to resign, the selection of a replacement was an easier call. ““The entire team decided that Heather would be ideal to be the leader among equals.” For her part, Lucas said that when Osei sat her down in July and told her of his resignation, she was hit with a “plethora of emotion” over what she called a very “bittersweet situation,”
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nity,” Prince Ralph Osei told the CSU council. The loan, authorized on August 12 by Osei but since approved by the CSU council, was given out of surplus funds accumulated by the student union during their last fiscal year and will therefore not affect their budget for the 2010-2011 academic year. Since its creation in 2004, CVAP has sent around 60 students to volunteer in the war-torn Gulu region of Uganda yearly, though no students took the trip this past year. As a fee-levy group they receive 35 cents per credit from every student in the university, amounting to around $225, 000 a year. While the project will reportedly only cost $125, 000 total, the university pays these fee-levy groups their accumulated finances in May, leaving CVAP on a hunt for bank loans and private investment this summer. Having found only one willing donor who was going to charge 10 per cent interest on the money, Osei said he felt the need to step up. “For them to be paying 10 per cent interest on this amount of money, I felt it was a rip-off,” he said, prompting him to award the loan at no interest. VP external and projects Adrien Severyns is also running an anti-poverty campaign this year, which Osei felt fit in
perfectly with their decision to help CVAP and would avoid leaving Concordia students to “foot the bill” on the ten per cent interest that they would have been forced to pay out of their fee-levy. “If the CSU can cushion the roughness of the whole thing then we felt it was the best thing for us to step in and make this thing happen,” said Osei. Despite receiving the minimum two-thirds approval required from the council, Osei’s presidential decree and loan did not garner unanimous acceptance from those in attendance. While assuring the council that she supported the volunteer work of CVAP and was not opposed to helping them out, Lex Gill, council member for Arts and Sciences, questioned the decision to give out loans when no process or regulations exist for such an action in the CSU’s by-laws. “In that sense I feel like it sets a dangerous precedent for fee-levy groups to feel like they can go to the CSU for loans,” she explained during discussion at the meeting, adding that she may be in favour of the loan if they implemented some sort of guidelines in their laws. “We are not a bank, and we never operate as a bank,” Osei responded. “Sometimes some things are thrown at you that you have
The annual pride parade in Calgary turned even more political after a mayoral candidate called out an opponent for not attending. Liberal MLA for Calgary Buffalo Kent Hehr posted a message on his website inviting opponent Ric McIver to join him at the event, as he had not attended in nine years. McIver said that a prior engagement to attend a Punjabi Cultural Festival prevented him from doing so. “He wants to be mayor of this great city. He should be a mayor for all citizens,” Hehr told CBC News. Only three mayoral candidates of a total 17 reportedly attended the parade put on for and by the lesbian/gay/transsexual community.
Alberta’s premier, Nancy Pelosi to discuss oilsands
Alberta’s premier Ed Stelmach will be meeting with Nancy Pelose, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, next week in Ottawa and the province’s oilsands are the main subject on the agenda. Pelosi, known for her involvement on energy debates in the States’, reportedly expressed interested in learning more about the energy source and the meeting was set up by U.S. ambassador David Jacobson. Stelmach will be joined by Marlo Raynolds, executive director of environmental organization the Pembina institute, at the round table on Wednesday. Premiers Jean Charest and Brad Wall of Saskatchewan have also been invited along with representatives of a few other NGOs.
Ontario offers tax credit to keep kids active
to use your discretionary ability to seize an opportunity and to run with it. I think this project spoke volumes when it came before the entire executive.” Gill also raised concern that the CSU is losing out on the interest they would make if that $45, 000 were in the bank. Additionally, since ground had already been broken on the newly purchased land, were the council to have voted down Osei’s decree it may have jeopardized the entire project and put the “democratic nature” of the council into question. Still, when it came time to vote, a motion to support the presidential decree was passed with 11 in favour and only one opposed with two abstentions. When asked whether outside, neutral sources had been consulted to confirm or investigate the amount needed to build the structure in Uganda, new CSU president Heather Lucas said that the money was given to CVAP “in good faith,” and that having signed a contract with the organization, the money will be paid back to the CSU in May 2011 regardless. “If anything we’re helping them out,” she told the council. “They’re doing something good in Uganda and the CSU is part of that. That’s an incredible thing.”
In order to keep kids active and involved, the province of Ontario announced it will be introducing a tax credit offer to parents who are paying to enter their kids in activities. The credit specifically targets low-income family but will be available to everyone, and covers everything from dance to art and music, along with the usual sports and fitness activities. Parents can claim up to $500 dollars and as a refundable credit, low-income families that pay less taxes can still reap the benefits. A similar credit has existed on the federal level since 2007, but it only applies to physical activity.
Carleton frosh week a student-admin compromise
The annual frosh week held at Carlton university will have a much more academic tint than previous years according to CBC News, after the administration announced a take-over of student-run events last April. The announcement was met with intense student opposition, prompting a compromise which has resulted in an even mixture of social and education events this year. Now apparently students will be able to choose between getting wasted and partying, or meeting some of their professors, touring the campus and attending plays about being a good student. Hmm, I wonder which type of event is going to garner the most participation...