Richard Catangay-LiewNavneet Khinda has been in this position before.
As the only returning University of Alberta Students’ Union executive from 2014–15, she knows what it’s like to set goals and the challenges it may bring.
“All (the executive’s platforms) are so different,” Khinda said. “It’s a lot of stuff, but most of it’s long-term. I’d be happy if we crossed off maybe three things off here this year.”
This year’s executive team presented their goals to Students’ Council on June 30, and are based on five themes.
The SU executive’s first theme is centered on affordability. Vice-President (Academic) Fahim Rahman will be looking to build on the Be Book Smart Campaign, which has provided students and instructors with affordable, cost-effective solutions to textbooks and course packages. Vice-President (External) Dylan Hanwell will be lobbying the Rachel Notley-led provincial government on tuition and fee policies in the Post-Secondary Learning Act, such as ridding “loopholes” such as market modifier increases, and regulating mandatory non-instructional fee (MNIF) and international differential fees. Vice-President (Operations and Finance) Cody Bondarchuk is aiming to make awards and scholarships more visible and accessible, and eventually create a centralized scholarship database. Khinda will be researching MNIFs internal to the university and discuss them with administration.
The next theme, supporting students, works on three categories, with leadership and governance being the biggest one. Rahman is currently researching the possibility of an exit survey and examine what students needs are while working on the academic relations group and the roles of students at large. His goals also include increasing the visibility of General Faculties Council for students, which is currently under development. VP (Student Life) Vivian Kwan wants to initiate a Student Life working group while tackling issues in residences. With the Peter Lougheed Leadership College set to welcome its inaugural class this September, the SU will be advocating for improvements to the program and its curriculum while strengthening leadership opportunities.
In terms of employment, the Khinda and Hanwell will be working with the City of Edmonton for a way to see what opportunities are available in terms of jobs, internships and volunteering.
The execs’ third theme is student wellness. Rahman and Kwan will work to increase mental health programming, such as Unwind your Mind during final exam season. Khinda said there is criticism that the SU should be doing more campaigns around activities on campus, so one of their goals is advocating for more funding to make those activities possible. Bondarchuk, who recently put forth a survey asking students about their preferences regarding healthier food options and grocery items on campus, will be updated soon. The L’Express menu could also see changes to see more halal and vegan options. Khinda said she’ll be working on the university’s sexual assault process. The Dean of Students office is currently completing their own review of the sexual assault policy, but Khinda will be conducting her own review that asks students to anonymously submit what their experiences were with the process, and how it could be improved. But Khinda said this is a multi-year process, and ties in with her review of the university’s Code of Student Behaviour.
Student experience, the fourth theme on the SU execs list, includes further inclusivity of international students into campus culture. With recent public suicides at the U of A, one of Kwan’s goals is to expand the resident complaint form. Further building on Khinda’s Code of Student Behaviour review, she’ll be researching what the judicial process at the U of A is like and how it could be improved. With quality of education under his portfolio, Rahman will be looking into how the Festival of Teaching can make a bigger impact on students. He will examine how teaching tenure streams, which are tenures where professors only teach and don’t conduct research, could be utilized at the U of A and what that means for students. The SU will also be looking at how to “measure” the student experience, as world university rankings formulas tend to value the experience in their grading systems.
Finally, the SU’s final goal theme is engaging students. Hanwell has already started working on the national Get out the Vote campaign, which currently has about 6,000 signups thus far pledging to vote in the upcoming federal election this fall.
“Most of these are kind of a ‘wait and see,’ especially with the new government, president and provost team” Khinda said.
