Lochlann KerrEach 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.
And if you’re short for time, check out our TLDR for a bite-sized breakdown.
Abner Monteiro: B+
The University of Alberta’s Students’ Union (UASU) President is the head of the Students’ Union. The president oversees the executive team and advocates for students to different governing bodies, like the General Faculties Council (GFC) and the Board of Governors (BoG).
As students returned to campus fully in-person, Abner Monteiro really emphasized student life in his platform and as president. In the face of exceptional tuition increases, Monteiro advocated for the removal of the instalment fee, and the freeze of the health and wellness fee.
Tuition advocacy and making post-secondary education an election issue
When I asked Monteiro what he was most proud of achieving during his term, he said tuition advocacy. This year, Monteiro advocated to remove the instalment fee, which he said will save students $1 million.
Previously, anytime students wanted to pay their tuition by term, as opposed to all at once, they had to pay a $40 fee. This fee is insulting to students who can’t afford to pay their tuition all at once, which is quite a few of us.
In our interview, he called the instalment fee “the hill to die on” for past presidents, who campaigned on this promise but were never able to achieve it. As a result, the removal of the instalment fee is a huge, and long-awaited, win for the UASU and students alike.
In a more recent win, Monteiro and Christian Fotang, current vice-president (external), were able to advocate for a cap on tuition increases, which will go forward and was announced last week. From the 2024-25 academic year onward, tuition increases will be capped at two per cent. Unfortunately, domestic students can still expect a proposed 5.5 per cent increase, and international students a 6.5 per cent increase, for the 2023-24 academic year. A win is a win, but this year’s tuition increases are just another burden for students to bare.
Tuition increases have been a major concern for the last four years, so it’s unfortunate that it took this long to slow them down. The proposed increases for the next academic year are extremely likely to go ahead, and Monteiro should have done more to ensure that a tuition increase cap was brought in sooner.
In fact, in our interview, I asked Monteiro if more radical action was ever considered when it came to advocacy or making post-secondary education an election issue. He said nothing, including tuition hike protests, were off the table, but that the UASU was prioritizing the Get Out the Vote campaign.
It’s upsetting, then, that a protest wasn’t organized until after tuition increase proposals were announced and the U of A’s budget was completed. During the consultation process, Monteiro said he and his team did all they could to make sure that students saved as much money as possible, and prevent tuition increases from happening.
Clearly, the course of action taken by Monteiro didn’t have the outcome students deserve. Students aren’t saving as much money as possible, since tuition increases will likely get approved for next year. Despite all the wins Monteiro achieved this year, tuition increases is the big loss that’s dragging his grade down from an A.
Improving student life, but at what cost?
One of Monteiro’s major platform goals was improving student life, as the 2022-23 year marked the first full year students would be back on campus. As such, he emphasized organizing events that would show students there was more to university than just your studies. One such event was Break the Record (BTR), which was met with criticism from students after it was revealed the total amount spent was estimated to be $145,000.
In our interview, I asked Monteiro how he would respond to criticism and concerns from students that BTR was an overly expensive event. To him, although the event was costly, students ultimately had fun.
“One of our biggest goals with hosting BTR was to bring students, faculty, staff, [and] the community together in one place to be able to celebrate coming back to campus. I know students had a lot of fun being at [BTR], and I’m really glad that we were able to achieve that goal,” he said.
These comments feel a little tone-deaf, especially at a time where students are grappling with exceptional tuition increases and a cost of living crisis. Sure, students should be able to have fun on campus. But, $145,000 is a big price to pay to have fun on campus.
If Monteiro hadn’t brought in changes that helped students save money, his grade would have drastically decreased.
All in all, this was a very successful year for Monteiro, who was able to achieve most of his platform goals, in addition to others that weren’t initially part of his plan. In our interview, he said this was largely because he seized opportunities as they came up, instead of sticking to his original platform.
This flexible attitude is really admirable, and helped Monteiro secure tons of wins for students. However, if these opportunities, like the two per cent cap on tuition increases or the City of Edmonton improving cell service in LRT stations, hadn’t presented themselves, Monteiro probably wouldn’t have gotten such a high grade.
In the end, the biggest critique of Monteiro’s presidency was that he wasn’t more on the ball about tuition increases. At a time where students are spending inordinate amounts of money on our education, our Students’ Union needs to do more to support us.
TLDR: Monteiro seized opportunities where they popped up, which ended up saving students a significant amount money. His work shows that he’s dedicated to students, but that his response isn’t always the right one — his comments about the cost of BTR were tone-deaf, and some of his advocacy seemed too late, because tuition increases will most likely be approved for next year. In the end, I would’ve liked to see more direct action from Monteiro before tuition increases were proposed.
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.
