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Claude warms up to residents

By Eyeopener Staff

One of the first things president Claude Lajeunesse did when he entered a second-floor room in Pitman Hall was remove his navy blue suit jacket and place it by the fire.

“Now I can relax,” he said to a Ryerson student.

Close to 50 students gathered around the fire, displayed on a big-screen television to the left of Lajeunesse, to chat with the president.

He was invited to Pitman Hall Tuesday afternoon to answer residents’ questions about topics such as tuition increases, the student centre and the Yonge-Dundas redevelopment.

Pitman’s residence life facilitator, Will Pascoe, said he and other staff approached Lajeunesse at the beginning of September about coming to the Fire Side Chat, as was advertised on poster in Pitman.

“We had no problems getting him to say yes,” said Pascoe.  “We thought it was a great way for first-year students to meet their president.”

Lajeunesse said he had no hesitations about coming to Pitman and welcomed the opportunity to talk to students.

“That’s why when I was approached to come here [today], I accepted, because I believe we should respond to student needs when we can,” he said.

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