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On this episode of View From the Venue, I sat down for a chat at Bar L'Absynth with Montreal's own alternative rock act Solids, whose live show just so happens to live up to their name. These days they're tearing it up on the east coast on a short tour in Newfoundland. The duo talk playing in basements, cross-format music releases and the benefits of being a two man band. Check out their EP, Generic Dogs.

-Filmed and edited by Julia Hoelscher

A number of issues were discussed at the Concordia Board of Governors meeting Monday.

Concern over the use of the Concordia brand by student groups was brought to light by two governors.

President Lowy proposed a special committee for the purpose of evaluating performance indicators. However, one professor at the meeting mentioned that for staff, the topic is a “huge issue of contention” and questioned its purpose.

An amendment passed to allow the president to sit on the performance indicators committee. Undergraduate representative Laura Beach will also sit at the committee.

A motion to table a broadcasting vote passed amid concerns over the lack of details on the subject. The vote would see recordings of Board of Governors meetings banned.

CSU President Lex Gill proposed to table the issue until the Senate, who is running the committee on the issue, publishes their findings. A governor at the meeting questioned how a ban of this nature would be enforced.

The recent $2 million dollar fine issued to Concordia by the Education Minister over the handling of severance packages to top administrators was also discussed.  

Remarking how much the issue has hurt Concordia’s reputation, chair of the Board of Governors Peter Kruyt admitted that “no one feels this money was well spent.”

In a statement to fellow Concordians, A Better Concordia addressed the release of candidates Schubert Laforest and Lucia Gallardo's student records.

Both candidates were disqualified from the upcoming CSU election for allegedly not being registered students.

An investigation is being held to discover the origin of the documents.

Calling the records "outdated, inaccurate versions" and the release an "illegal breach of privacy", A Better Concordia states that the leak came from a Faculty or Department member. The statement continues to say that A Better Concordia is "dismayed at the possibility that a faculty or department member may have abused his or her power to interfere with student elections."

A Better Concordia ended the statement promising to continue  their campaign and fight for the protection of rights of Concordia students, adding that the incident has gone beyond the election, and is now about "our collective right to privacy and security within our own university."

According to CBC, a student sit-in protest at l’Université à Montréal on Sainte-Catherine turned into an overnight event on Monday.

Students began to bring out chairs from the university and played music and made art.

These students were mostly from UQAM and CÉGEP Vieux-Montréal.

The strike began in the morning and blocked off traffic at the intersection of Sainte Chatherine and Sanguinet.

Protests in Quebec City at l’Université Laval lead to an arrest after access to the education building and many administrative offices were blocked.

At Université du Québec à Montréal, administrators locked four buildings in order to prevent students from occupying the buildings.

Roughly 130, 000 college and university students are now on strike due to upcoming tuition hikes.

Flickr photo: AESS