Oumar SalifouEach year, The Gateway publishes an evaluation of the Students’ Union Executive and the Board of Governors representative. It’s impossible to discuss every aspect of their tenures, so these reports are largely based on the major components of the platform each executive campaigned on, and the most significant responsibilities of their respective positions. These evaluations were informed by interviews with the executives themselves. The grading rubric can be found below. And if you’re short for time, check out our TLDR for a bite-sized breakdown.
Rowan Ley: B
The responsibility of the undergraduate Board of Governors representative is essentially to sit on the Board of Governors, the highest decision-making body at the university, and advocate for students. Anyone who holds this position has their work cut out for them: the position is “part-time” and unpaid, and the BoG has not traditionally been extremely receptive to criticism or change. As BoG representative, you also don’t have access to all the resources of the Students’ Union. This is why, for the most part, Rowan Ley’s term has been a pleasant surprise this year.
One of the major promises Ley made during his campaign was to get the BoG to livestream their meetings. I was prepared to dismantle this point of his platform because they haven’t done so yet, but according to Ley, he has laid enough groundwork for this to happen with or without him by next year. The BoG has been extremely hostile to this idea in the past, telling Ley that they were concerned that someone would take the footage and use it against them, but he has managed to assuage their concerns.
During his campaign, Ley was also very vocal about getting more women involved in governance. It seems he followed through on this; though originally he planned to have representatives from STRIDE attend BoG meetings, the idea proved not so popular, and so he came up with a new way to carry out his goal. Two members of the board ran a STRIDE session on marketing, which Ley says was popular. He also says that, without naming names, he encouraged a few of the female candidates to run for SU positions throughout the year.
An area where Ley fell short this year is student outreach. During his campaign, he spoke a lot about student outreach, specifically to CSJ. He says that this is his “single biggest regret,” alongside not achieving his lofty goal of translating resources to French himself. According to him, his translations were inferior to even simple Google translation programs, so he felt no need to continue his efforts. However, he does feel he did a good job reaching out to Augustana this year.
The nature of BoG representative is something of a mystery to the average student, and sometimes even other members of the SU. Ley says that he was happy with how he had overcome the difficulty of not having the same pay, resources, or allotted time for being in the position, and considers his time as BoG representative well spent. I agree.
TLDR: Despite the fact that there was almost a complete rollover of BoG members during the summer, Ley managed to form enough connections to push forward his initiatives and see success that the BoG representative hasn’t in a long time. Despite his lack of engagement with CSJ and inability to translate documents himself, his effort and relative success earn him a solid B.
A-range: This person has fulfilled the promises they campaigned on and more, has created tangible change during their tenure, and has shown a commitment to improving the lives of students. Their GPA is top tier.
B-range: This person has done their job consistently well, but has not made any remarkable changes, or has fallen short on important goals they set out in their platforms. They’re doing fine, but it’s nothing to phone home about.
C-range: This person has done their job sufficiently, but has failed to make significant progress in the areas most relevant to their portfolio, or has essentially abandoned a major part of their platform. They’re still passing with a safe buffer though, and Cs get degrees!
D-range: This person has done a very lacklustre job, and has not sufficiently fulfilled their campaign promises or the responsibilities of their position.
F-range: This person has not done their job, has not represented students, and has not fulfilled their campaign promises whatsoever.
