Notes from Council: Student Legal Services presents plan for new protest policy

“Notes from Council” is The Gateway’s ongoing series of recaps of noteworthy items from Students’ Council meetings.

At the October 22 meeting of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) Students’ Council, there were multiple presentations. Council also passed a plebiscite question and two motions to revise bylaws.

The October by-election results were ratified, officially inducting the newly elected councillors. With six seats filled, council only has three remaining vacancies. 

Student Legal Services presents report recommending a new protest and dissent policy

Student Legal Services (SLS) presented their report on creating a protest and dissent policy at the U of A. Their goal is to assist the U of A in writing a new protest policy and presented their draft proposal. According to SLS, the U of A does not have a policy that comprehensively covers protest and dissent.

“We believe that a new policy can guide us forward on a path towards a safer and more respectful community,” a representative of SLS said.

SLS recommends a single policy outlining the responsibilities of administrators and community members. SLS listed recommendations for this policy plan.

Recommendations included addressing issues that arise with minimal police involvement, appointing a U of A administrator to monitor and co-ordinate protest activity, and having limits on protests consistent with binding jurisprudence in section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

University staff present draft of new accommodation and discrimination policies

Staff from the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), as well as the Dean of Students (DoS) office, presented the university’s draft accommodation and discrimination policies. Presenters included Tim Ira, the portfolio initiatives manager for EDI; Mebbie Bell, the DoS student equity and accessibility director, and Sharon Stearns, the DoS accessibility and accommodations director. Currently, the university is developing two new policy suites to replace the Discrimination, Harassment, and Duty to Accommodate Policy.

Updates to the policy included separating the ‘discrimination and harassment’ policy from the ‘duty to accommodate’ policy. According to their presentation, policy documents are being updated to be more direct, detailed, and accessible to students as well. 

Changes will also be made to the accommodations procedure. These include accommodation responsibilities for students seeking accommodation, and describing how students may request accommodations. Additionally, it outlines that students may request an accommodation review if they believe there to be an error. 

The plan is to have final revisions with feedback received as of October 2024. The announcement, rollout, and awareness and training plan are expected to take place in July 2025. 

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) also presented its pre-budget, which prioritizes permanent investment in Canada Student Grants and increasing funding for the Post secondary Student Support Program.

Halt the Hike requests plebiscite question regarding the UASU Tuition Policy

At the request of Halt the Hike, a group which protests against tuition increases, the Bylaw Committee presented on a potential plebiscite question for the 2025–26 SU election. The plebiscite would ask students if they want the UASU to advocate for free tuition and the elimination of student debt. Currently, free education and loan forgiveness are not included in the UASU Tuition Policy.

The presentation for this plebiscite provided examples of average tuition fees for both domestic and international students. It also outlined potential problems of ‘affordable education’ as a policy. Problems could include the definition of ‘affordable education’ being relative, as well as there being no specific end goal.

The motion to approve the plebiscite passed.

Council amends two bylaws

Following that, Bylaw Committee proposed to amend Bylaw 600. The amendment would change the bylaw name from Students’ Union Bilingualism to Students’ Union Bilingualism and Accessibility.

The goal of the amendment is to require that the UASU and their Dedicated Fee Units (DFUs) make efforts to provide services accommodating disabilities or impairments. It would also seek to ensure UASU legislation is available in formats that are widely compatible with various assistive technologies. This entails multilingual translation technologies and text-to-speech technologies.

The motion to approve the amendment was approved.

An amendment was also proposed for Bylaw 110.08.2. This amendment would change the meeting where the reiteration of councillors’ oath of office takes place. This allowed the current council members to restate their oath alongside the newly elected councillors.

The motion to approve the bylaw amendment was approved.

Student asks the UASU to release a statement on war in Gaza

During the open forum, student Andie Hansen had a statement for President Lisa Glock regarding the war in Gaza. He spoke about a formal complaint he placed on October 16. Hansen asked the UASU to “release a statement surrounding the genocide and call on the Canadian government to end all contracts with the Zionist state.”

Glock responded to the statement and said “I do condemn the genocide in Palestine. There is no UASU policy restricting me or anyone else from saying that.” She explained that she is on the Advisory Committee of Displaced Palestinian Students and Scholars.

According to Glock, the UASU is bringing the Single Source Beverage Agreement to referendum for the 2025–26 SU election. The agreement expires on June 1, 2025 and the UASU is obligated to bring it to referendum before renewing it. Additionally, Glock said the UASU is reviewing its banking “along the lines of our ethical business practices policy. This is an ongoing project.”