I want the SMUSA President to represent students at Saint Mary’s University, meet their needs and make things easier for everyone. Our President, VPs, and Board are paid positions and the money needs to be earned by making real, tangible contributions to our campus, students, and community.
The first steps are easy fixes that will result in real differences on campus, followed by long term strategy. The Gosebrook is currently only accepting North American IDs, providing a barrier to international students who just want to have fun; this should stop immediately. Refitting Husky Patrol for wheelchair accessibility will allow more mobility for students right away, and discussions I have started with District 7 councillor Waye Mason for a bus shelter on the other side of Inglis will help those students holding a U-Pass. In regards to the U-Pass, we buy passes in bulk for a discount; I want to reduce the number of passes we buy by the number of parking passes we sell, allowing drivers to opt-out. I also want SMUSA to offer a space for students to be able to sell their textbooks directly to other students without the used book markup the campus bookstore adds to avoid unnecessary spending.
Speaking of spending, the SMUSA President earns $23,000 a year, each of the VPs pull $18,000 each. For that price, I feel it’s not too much to ask to post an operating budget with a line-by-line expense for interested students to see. That way everyone can see if there is money that can be better spent on more services, bursaries or further recycled back into the student community. I want to welcome interested students to open office hours and board meetings that are publicized at least a month in advance so people can make plans to attend should they wish. Student advisors and international reps should be welcome at meetings, and groups should be sought out to hear their input on current issues.
“Come visit” isn’t where student government ends, it’s where it begins. By aggressively representing our interests to the Canadian government we can present a strong voice across all universitiesworking together for reduced tuition fees. Back on Campus our calendars, website, and TVs shouldn’t be limited to advertising SMUSA events. The new event calendars on campus, online and available on your phone would have the happenings of the campus, not just the campus government.
SMUSA can easily partner with other universities and community organizations, working together on issues that affect students. Student costs as well as social justice can be improved by simply increasing our presence and fostering a community greater than our individual campuses. Let’s expand our reach to other schools and the greater community.
None of these things are flashy bank-breaking promises, simply minor improvements to things that have already been established here by hard working students in various areas who wanted to make things better for us all – something I want to continue to do.
Let’s keep making changes together, changes SMU students deserve.
