Council Forum — November 26, 2009

The mics are back, and there's still chaos.
— Craig Turner, Council Speaker, on the return of microphones to Council Chambers, and the persistence of bureaucratic disorganization.

So what have you been up to?

After the cancellation of the night's scheduled presentation from APIRG, councillors were left with a relatively short agenda on Tuesday night, as question period and executive reports were the focus for the rest of the night.

President Kory Mathewson reported that he was currently looking into the private sector to explore credit card payment options for students.

Vice President (Student Life) Nick Dehod had an update on Student Counselling Services, which is about to see the addition of a $20 fee. The additional fee will allow SCS to hire two more counsellors and hopefully remedy a current shortage of counselling services for University students. Dehod reminded council that the U of A has one of the lowest counsellor-to-student ratios in the country.

Vice President (External) Beverly Eastham told council about her recent trips out of town to both the Millennium Scholarship Foundation's last conference, and Canadian Alliance of Student Associations conference. Eastham touched on CASA's national survey, which now has 2,735 U of A respondents, making it statistically valid.

Question Period

Mathewson was asked whether he planned to release a more comprehensive report on the SU student survey. Preliminary results from the survey are now available, but councillors expressed their wish that a more detailed report, including comparisons to other G-13 schools' surveys, be included.

He also touched on developments for the Students' Union Centenary Award, which is given in honour of the Students' Union's centenary. Mathewson hopes the award will be an endowed achievement given to students of satisfactory academic achievement who display leadership and involvement with the campus community.

Vice President (Operations and Finance) Zach Fentiman heard questions about the popularity of the Students’ Union's new brew, Wicked Panda, which is actually Molson Black Label. He had to report that, unfortunately, delays in the branding and logo design for the new beer have so far impeded its progress, and that hopefully it would be released in the new year.

Dehod fielded questions about changes to SCS, and whether or not the new $20 fee would be covered under the SU health plan. Dehod informed counsellors that the full $20 fee would be covered, and clarified that, despite being an internal service, students would still be required to fill out claim forms in the health plan office to avoid raising health plan premiums.

Market modifiers were a hot topic, as the SU executive were shotgunned with a question on how they planned to secure student financial aid in the light of possible skyrocketing student fees. Mathewson reported that the executive were currently meeting on a regular basis with the Budget Advisory Committee to demand financial aid, but that so far the meetings had taken a format of information reception. Vice President (Academic) Leah Trueblood added that they were being as forceful as possible in negotiations, but nebulous negotiation terms were slowing progress.

Fentiman was asked about the condition of elevators in the Students' Union Building, which, as many students know, are prone to getting stuck, deleting floor selections, and shutting on riders. Fentiman acknowledged the shoddy machinery, and stated that although the SU was not responsible for elevator repairs, he would raise the issue with maintenance.

U(r) Pass

In first reading, council put forward a referendum to the Bylaw Committee asking students about approving the newly minted U-Pass plan. Although the precisely worded motion has yet to be finalized, it indicated the need of mandatory fees for all students, and universal transit use in Edmonton city limits.