Still young, CUFA celebrates a birthday
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Standing at the back, left to right, are Tony Costanzo, Christopher Ross, John Drysdale, Enn Raudsepp and Bill Knitter. In the front row are Lucie Lequin, June Chaikelson, Jeffrey Adams and Arpi Hamalian. For its 20th anniversary five years ago, CUFA assembled a collage of photos of past presidents. After that, it was decided to commission individual portraits that would hang in the CUFA office. Artist Daniel Lahaise made large drawings of the late David Frost (right) and current president Ross (left), and they were unveiled at the reception.
Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj
About 100 active members and friends of the Concordia University Faculty Association got together Feb. 10 at the Faculty Club to mark the organization’s 25th anniversary.
The association is treated like a union by the university and negotiates contracts for its members. These comprise full-time faculty, including limited and extended term appointments and professional librarians.
As president Christopher Ross said in a brief welcoming speech, CUFA was established to address perceived wrongs.
Dramatic progress had been made in the quarter-century since then, though some challenges remain. “Faculty members are central to change,” he said. “We’ve got to get on the bus, and we’re not all on the bus yet.”
Greetings were extended by Loretta Czernis, president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), and by Cécile Sabourin, president of the Fédération Québécoise des Professeures et Professeurs d’Université (FQPPU).
Arpi Hamalian was the founding president of CUFA, a fact that she humorously attributed to her ability to speak French, a rare skill among Concordia faculty members 25 years ago.
She went on to become president of the FQPPU, and reminded her listeners that faculty unions have made common cause with administrators of their institutions to face difficult times together.
She paid tribute to John Drysdale as a “sherpa,” or valued assistant, during those early years.
Lucie Lequin, who also acknowledged that her ability to speak French got her started in CUFA, recalled several valued members who died recently, Morton Stelcner (in 2000), David Frost and Harvey Shulman (both in 2005).
Lequin urged young faculty members to get involved in CUFA, but she warned that intense volunteer activity should be tempered with a healthy private life.
She also, to general laughter, passed on some advice she was given when she became president, saying it proved valuable: “Don’t crawl in front of the dean — he won’t respect you.”
It was decided five years ago to commission individual portraits of CUFA presidents.
Art student Daniel Lahaise created large drawings of the late David Frost and current president Ross. They will hang in the CUFA offices.