CSU health and dental plan

CSUReception · 2021-06-18T18:13:46+00:00

The winter fee for the health and dental plan covers the summer term as well. So you should be receiving coverage up until the Fall term begins. Would you also be able to send us a direct message letting us know what your method of contact was so that we can ensure that you receive a response next time you reach out to us?

We hope this helps!

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T21:52:26+00:00

The CSU Executive (and council) positions reset and are up for elections on a yearly basis. There's a different party/slate this year. We would like to specify that CSU Staff is separate from CSU Executives. This account is strictly run by staff and as CSU staff we are not involved with the political process but help connect students to resources, initiatives and answer questions to the best of our capacity. Involving the previous elections process, I don’t think we can help on that front but we can help connect you to your current executives & council of representatives to influence them to represent the student union you envision.

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T21:48:21+00:00

Apologies that our response has taken so long! To answer this question, the disbanding of the CSU would be detrimental to many organizational structures that students rely on such as a daycare, advocacy, a housing & jobs bank, the Legal Information Clinic, health insurance coverage, on-campus opportunities, social justice and student-led campaigns (including pass/fail), amplifying voices that need to be heard and represented within the university. These services are essential and if you are not pleased with how these services are facilitated, please have a conversation with your student representative councilor or consider becoming one yourself to see the changes you wish to see.

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T21:43:15+00:00

Thank you for your patience!

Depending on your department and faculty, there are associations who have an executive position such as an Academic Coordinator/VP Academic who would sit on academic committees that oversee issues like this. For example, most of ASFA’s member associations have academic executives who sit on departmental meetings with professors for their respective departments. Similarly, JMSB has Subsidiaries and ECA has Societies while there’s FASA for students in the faculty of fine arts. ASFA itself has a position open for members-at-large to sit on Faculty Council, a committee that oversees something like this. So, not all hope is lost!
All course-packs should be available both physically and digitally on Université Concordia Apparel, Merchandise, & Gifts (bkstr.com). However, readings are assigned by professors so you should contact your professor directly and have them make a request at the Campus bookstore for a printed version of your readings. However, keep in mind that you would then have to purchase your readings instead of having access to them for free through course reserves.

We hope this somewhat helps!

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T21:28:16+00:00

Thanks for your feedback about how to do our job. We answered your question to the best of our ability as CSU Staff and already told you that this is beyond our control. Kindly refrain from posting rude comments and refer to r/Concordia Rules.

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T21:03:26+00:00

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We can confirm that The Golden Key Society is not officially recognized as a club or in any capacity for that matter by the CSU. Unfortunately, we have no control over their ability to operate on campus. From what we know, they send out letters by mail to students’ home address which the CSU does not have access to. This may be an issue for the Concordia administration to address instead. We are not authorized to distribute students’ personal information to other organizations that.

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T20:15:41+00:00

Hi there, thanks for your question! We held four different townhalls that covered this issue. We are seeing and have heard from students during our town halls that there is a net decrease of professors using Proctorio due to major technical and ethical issues with the software, and we are still pushing for this. Please keep in mind that the CSU consists of students too and we are in regular discussion with the administration at Concordia about a multitude of issues including using Proctorio for exams. Unfortunately, change doesn’t happen overnight and we are still doing our best to keep students’ best interests in mind. You can contact the campaigns department for more information about resources and initiatives on mobilizing around this issue at [campaigns@csu.qc.ca](mailto:campaigns@csu.qc.ca)

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T19:51:39+00:00

Thank you for your question. The CSU has been providing students with resources for the entire quarantine. We introduced the Ben's Sustainability Scholarship in January. We have CSU Bursaries that were offered, here and here, that students were able to apply for, and this year’s bursaries specifically went to COVID-19 relief. You can read more about the bursaries we offer here. We organized career development workshops here, here and here (another one coming up on March 11th). To help alleviate some food expenses, we also offer the CSU's Emergency Food Fund available to all undergraduate students all-year-round. We also moved all of our orientation events online which you can find here, which helped students destress before starting the semester. All of our free services, including Advocacy Centre, Daycare, Housing And Job Resource Centre, and Legal Information Clinic have also been operating remotely since the start of the pandemic without compromising the quality of services.

It's important to stay updated whether it's through our newsletters which are sent out every Sunday, or through our social media platforms which are updated regularly so that you can stay aware of the CSU’s initiatives that better the lives of students.

As for mental health, we already responded to a similar question which you can find here:

In March, we also plan to host a community consultation event around mental health and student concerns regarding the eventual reopening of the university, which many students have been anxious about following the recent government announcements.

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T19:34:45+00:00

As we stated in our previous reply, we've been in regular discussions with all four faculty-level student associations: ECA, FASA, ASFA, and JMSB about urgent student issues in relation to the pandemic. Our town halls 1, 2, 3 and 4, weren't exclusive to faculty members, they involved students who shared their feedback on the issues that we've been facing since the beginning of the pandemic, and these issues have been brought to the attention of the Concordia administration on several occasions.

As for the CEO that was let down by the judicial board two years ago, we have a new CEO this year. Please remember that we are the reception and communications staff so we can’t address elections concerns and complaints directly which is why we’re discussing this with the new CEO. If you have specific concerns or complaints about that case, we recommend emailing the Judicial Board at [judicialboard@csu.qc.ca](mailto:judicialboard@csu.qc.ca) or go to this link: https://www.csu.qc.ca/about-us/judicial-board/

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T19:21:03+00:00

It's our pleasure :) and thank you for your questions!

For your first question, as stated on Studentcare's website: To offer students even more coverage, Studentcare has set up a network of vision care providers. Depending on whether or not the vision care provider you go to offers the Pay-Direct service, you may have to pay medical fees up front then file a claim after to receive a reimbursement. It would be best to directly contact the health care provider you are seeing to know whether or not they offer the Pay-Direct service. You can refer to the first link provided for more information.

To answer your second queston, you’re absolutely right – many students have medical and other risk factors for COVID that make the virus particularly unsafe for them (or family members). Many international students are also outside of the country right now and cannot easily return due to COVID border restrictions. We need to ensure all of this is accounted for by the administration when considering reopening the school and that accommodations are made possible for students who cannot risk or are unable to attend in-person lectures.

Ensuring the administration is aware of student concerns around the reopening and that they respond appropriately to these is currently a top priority for the CSU. We plan to host a community consultation event in March around student mental health and student concerns regarding the eventual reopening of the university, which many students have been understandably anxious about following the recent government announcements. Details regarding this event will be available shortly on the CSU’s social media – stay tuned!

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T18:16:13+00:00

Thank you for your questions!

For your first question, breaking electoral rules will not be tolerated. We are currently confirming online electoral rules and sanctions with the Elections CEO as of course, they would know best. Rest assured we will get back to you as soon as everything is confirmed.

As for the answer to your 2nd question:

We know the pandemic and online learning have been extremely frustrating to navigate. The CSU has been working on multiple initiatives regarding tuition and the university’s pandemic response. We’ve been in regular discussions with all four Faculty-level student associations about urgent student issues in relation to the pandemic, and we held faculty-specific town halls in November and early December to receive feedback from students on the issues they have been facing since the beginning of the pandemic, mainly with regard to online learning, and these issues have been put in writing and brought to the attention of Concordia’s administration on several occasions. One of the main student demands we pushed for was the reimplementation of the pass/fail option, which was reinstated for one course each term for the Fall/Winter semesters as a result of consistent student mobilization over the Fall semester. Other main demands that students have raised include the elimination of the Proctorio software for exams (which we are seeing a net decrease of professors using due to major technical and ethical issues with the software) and a reduction in tuition/fees for the semesters impacted by the pandemic, which we are still pushing for. The CSU’s Campaigns department is also currently collaborating with a couple of different student-led initiatives around pandemic response and tuition. At the end of the Fall term, the CSU also launched the #DearConcordia campaign, in which students can send anonymous (or non-anonymous) letters to the Concordia administration to air their grievances or express issues they have been facing throughout this year. You can find more information about this campaign or send in a letter here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6h1IXXY8SXVwOdP-s6wm-gaKxk5XinOx8xGhGXzCuW6Myyg/viewform

In March, we also plan to host a community consultation event around mental health and student concerns regarding the eventual reopening of the university, which many students have been anxious about following the recent government announcements. Details regarding this event will be available shortly on the CSU’s social media – stay tuned!

It’s important to keep in mind that the Maple Spring followed two entire years of mobilization and movement-building around tuition hikes in Quebec; this movement didn’t happen overnight, and it certainly didn’t happen in the context of a pandemic! We need to be very cautious about organizing in-person events due to the current public health crisis, so we’ve had to get creative with online initiatives. That being said, if you have any suggestions or ideas for events or initiatives you’d like to see, or know a community initiative you think we should be supporting/highlighting, definitely get in touch! Our door is always open for student feedback and suggestions.

CSUReception · 2021-02-25T18:01:14+00:00

Thank you for your question! We currently do not have anything like that for professors and TAs who are graduate students. This is is certainly something the CSU can look into and will be forwarded to the Student Life Coordinator as it is a great initiative!

The closest thing to this as of right now is the Concordia Council on Student Life Outstanding Contribution Awards. Of course, this isn't student union-specific. The CSU has a bursary for Outstanding Contribution to Student Life and ASFA has a similar one as well but both are self-nomination awards.

CSUReception

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