Concordia University - Student Activism

Student Activism

Concordia has made media headlines for issues involving politically active students. The first major incident was SGW Computer Riots in 1969, before the merger that created today's university. Concordia supports a vibrant student and community level civil society including well over 60 academic, environmentalist, socialist, international development, anarchist, feminist, religious, gay rights and hacktivist organizations, as well as cultural clubs and federal political parties. The level of politicization and activity of student groups is dependent on the group and its purpose, and varies according to changing membership from year to year.

In 1989, Concordia students voted in a referendum to directly fund their PIRG with a fee-levy. With the support of this social-justice organization, which now had stable funding and a staff of paid workers, student activism flourished in the 1990s. A number of organizations that are now based at the university have their origins as QPIRG Concordia Working Groups. These include The People's Potato, a vegan soup-kitchen; Le Frigo Vert, a non-profit natural food co-op; and Right To Move/La Voie Libre, a fully equipped, volunteer-run bicycle repair workshop. All of these organizations are open to the general public and have strong representations of non-student community members.

Concordia students took an active role in the province-wide student strikes of 1996, which resulted in the renewal of a tuition freeze which was later revoked in 2007.

As the 1990s progressed, student activism became more militant, coming to a head in 1999 with the election of the first in a series of radical slates to the Concordia Student Union. Under the presidency of Rob Green, a referendum regarding of another strike garnered 2,284 votes of support. This was an unusually strong show of support, as student governments at Concordia are often elected on the basis of less than 1000 votes in their favor. The strike lasted from November 3 to 5th and targeted a range of issues, including student representation in the university senate, corporate presence and advertising on campus, and government cuts to education. There were several demonstrations in which both protesters and police were reported to be injured.

Concordia students voted in favor of accreditation of their student union in a referendum in December 2000. As a result, the CSU is now legally accountable only to its student constituents.

Many incidents over the last several years have had their roots in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict has been largely represented as a one between two student groups: the pro-Palestinian Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights and pro-Israeli Hillel. In general most student activism is conducted at a lower profile level.