WHALE: Wintry Hot Accessible Love-In For Education

Dear fellow Concordia students,
You may have seen the word WHALE around campus on posters, handbills, and Facebook. What is it about? It’s the Wintry Hot Accessible Love-in for Education! On February 14th, undergraduate and graduate students will both hold General Assemblies and then get together to celebrate at an awesome Valentine’s winter fair. There will be lunch, activities and heaters on the Hall building Terrace outside Reggies. So that’s:

CSU Special General Meeting:
February 14th, 11:30am
Hall building Terrace

GSA General Assembly:
February 14th, 11:00am
Java U, Hall Building
lunch and activities on the Hall Terrace following

Why should you come? The Quebec government has stated its intention to increase tuition fees substantially over the next four years both for Quebec residents and International students. While the exact increase is still being decided by politicians and Quebec University Presidents, one of the increases most often discussed is from the current roughly $2000 per year to $5000 per year, finally destroying the Quebec dream of accessible higher education for all.

Special General Meetings/General Assemblies are the highest level of government for students – with the required quorum, they are more powerful than either the council or executive. They involve voting on motions which if passed, become legally binding on the CSU and GSA. This means that your individual vote goes to directly affecting the policies of your union and your school. Currently the quorum for a CSU Special General Meeting is over 800 people, which is why one has not been held in years – there is no room big enough on campus to hold this many people. We don’t need to let this stop us anymore, but we need your help! With or without quorum, this will be a historic event at Concordia.

We have seen that Concordia is governed primarily by a small group of corporate executives who do not know or care what is best for students. In fact, they have supported tuition increases and appointed Presidents who support huge tuition increases. Despite votes of non-confidence from almost every student, faculty and staff union on campus, the Chair of the Board Peter Kruyt refuses to leave, as do the 13 community-at-large Board members who have overstayed their term limits and their welcome. We need to send a message that the will of students should be enforced.

The Concordia Students’ Union, Graduate Students’ Association of Concordia, Free Education Montreal, Peoples’ Campus Coalition, People’s Potato, Arts and Science Federation of Associations, and Political Science Student Association support this event, and the organizing committee, which has grown to almost 50 people, continues to contact more associations.

The assemblies will be short and sweet, with only a few motions including:
BE IT RESOLVED “That the CSU call for a Day of Action to denounce the Ministry of Education’s proposed tuition fee hikes, in solidarity with Quebec students and all those with a stake in accessible education. This Day of Action will be in effect immediately upon adjournment of the Special General Meeting, lasting for the entire day”.

AND a motion to reduce quorum for CSU Special General Meetings from 2.5 to 1.5 percent of members to make future meetings easier (and indoors).

All over the world and all over Quebec, people power is working! Be part of people power at Concordia…This Valentine’s Day, make a date with your union!

Visit our website: concordiastudents.ca
Contact us for more information: email hidden; JavaScript is required
Join the pre-party on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=106240856118661

Fired up? Want to get involved in organizing? Fill out your contact info here: http://ow.ly/3ME4y

You can also help to mobilize in these last few days by doing any of the following: