Notes from Council: ESS, HCA, and ISU present 2023-24 fee proposals

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

On December 5, at the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) Students’ Council meeting, the Engineering Students’ Society (ESS) and HUB Community Association (HCA) presented their faculty association membership fee (FAMF) proposals for the 2024 UASU election. As well, the Indigenous Students’ Union (ISU) presented on their 2023-24 dedicated fee unit (DFU) renewal. Afterwards, council approved the DFU questions for The Gateway, The Landing, and CJSR.

ESS proposes fee increase by $10.00 per fall/winter semesters

Co-presidents Jayden Brooks and Katherine Lam-Tran presented the ESS FAMF proposal.

If passed, the FAMF would charge all students enrolled in an engineering undergraduate degree $20.00 per fall and winter semester. Students can request a refund by filling out a form prior to the fee-deadline each semester. However, this may revoke their ability to participate in ESS initiatives. If passed, the fee would be in effect from 2024 to 2028.

Brooks acknowledged that students were “understandably concerned” regarding the noticeable fee increase, from $10.00 to $20.00. However, he said the FAMF was in-line with inflationary pressures, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Per the presentation, CPI refers to the 12–month change in costs of common household goods.

“A majority of the students that were surveyed … do support the idea of indexing to CPI,” Brooks said.

According to Brooks and Lam-Tran, the increased FAMF fee would support ESS Discipline Clubs, social events and funding for experiential learning initiatives, public good, and graduation banquets. The fee would also bolster initiatives for Year 2 Qualifying Year 2 (Y2Q2) and first-year students, and professional development events.

ISU presents DFU renewal of $1.00 per fall/winter and spring/summer trimesters

Next, ISU President Malijha Moyan and Vice-president (consultation and engagement) Victor Olsen presented on the ISU’s DFU renewal.

If renewed, the fee amount would stay at $1.00 per trimester, for both on and off-campus students, who are enrolled in classes. According to the ISU’s presentation, the fee will be indexed to inflation. Students may opt-out of the fee.

The ISU hopes to use the fee to provide cultural support and events, such as trimestral pipe ceremonies, fasting teachings, daily morning smudging, and monthly women’s ceremonies. As well, they would allocate the money to create educational opportunities for students to learn about Indigenous peoples, and scholarships for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous members. The funding would also go toward the ISU’s operational costs, and help them provide both Indigenous and non-Indigenous members access to childcare subsidization.

Works on registering as a society and providing external audit statements “are already underway,” Olsen says

Vice-president (operations and finance) Levi Flaman asked the ISU to clarify their internal oversight processes. He said that he couldn’t find evidence on the ISU being registered as a society, or their externally audited financial statements. To qualify to run for a DFU, groups are required to register as a society under Alberta’s Societies Act.

Olsen clarified that the ISU was in the process of being registered as a society, but were experiencing delays due to changing their name from the Aboriginal Student Council to the ISU. Alberta’s Societies Act requires that terms, such as council, be in the society’s name. Olsen said that the ISU recently amended their legal name in order to comply with these regulations.

”Now it’s just a matter of going to corporate registry and properly registering as a society,” Olsen said. “The works on that are already underway.”

As for financial oversight, Olsen reported that the ISU has expanded its financial executive team, and that external auditing processes are “currently underway.”

”Last year, we did send all of our documents, from my understanding,” he said. “Over the summer, we were told that the [financial] information was lost.”

Fotang voices concerns about international student tuition increases

In his oral report, UASU President Christian Fotang said he has raised concerns about the proposed international student tuition hikes to the tuition budget advisory committee and finance and property committee.

“International tuition has been increasing over the last couple years at a skyrocketing rate,” Fotang said. “That’s one of our big concerns, knowing that there is no regulation for how much international tuition may increase by.”

Fotang has also called on the university to provide more financial supports for the international student demographic.

“International students are using the Campus Food Bank more than any other demographic on campus,” Fotang said. “There should be no increases in the first place — for international or domestic students — given the financial pressures.”

According to Fotang, the UASU would also like to see ”a more specific and scrutinized budget” to see what tuition funds.

“Is it actually going to be invested into learning and academics of the student body here, to actually improve the quality of learning?” Fotang questioned. “If it is not, there should not be any grounds for increasing [tuition] at all.”

On December 8, the UASU and Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) held a town hall to get students’ feedback on tuition hikes. Fotang mentioned that the UASU will continue to open up avenues where students can share their concerns to the university.

Students address UASU’s response to Israel-Palestine violence

During open forum, multiple students voiced criticisms of the UASU’s response to the violence in Israel and Palestine.

Student Prometheus Voaklander delivered a statement. In it, he addressed the UASU’s prior support for Ukrainian students, as well as Indigenous and Black students.

“It’s been said that what the students want is consistency, but this is incorrect,” Voaklander said. “What we want is equality, fairness, and justice.”

He added that not taking a stance on the conflict not only fails to decrease campus tension, but also “enhances the very systemic racism that students are speaking about.”

Voaklander also stated that “fear is not a valid reason [for the UASU] to back away from [their] duties of advocating for students’ voices.”

“You are not elected by your constituents to be cowardly about a controversial topic,” he said. “You are elected to be the voice of the students to those who ignore us.”

Later, student and former UASU Chief Returning Officer Matin Koohkan spoke in support of the UASU’s position. Koohkan found it “unfortunate to see that requests being made simply ignore Jewish students on campus.”

“I believe that the UASU should not decide to abandon their Jewish students [due to] intimidation tactics.”

If HCA FAMF does not pass, rent may increase for HUB residents, vice-president says

Next, Vice-president (operations and finance) of HCA Kelvin Au presented their FAMF proposal. In the 2023 UASU election, the HCA FAMF did not pass, because they did not meet the 15 per cent threshold of voter turnout. 

The HCA is proposing a five-year fee of $45 a year for HUB mall residents. There is no change to the fee structure. If passed, the FAMF would be in effect starting from 2024. Residents would be able to opt-out of the fee.

According to the presentation, the HCA would use money from the FAMF to provide additional equipment to The Vault, a common area for HUB mall residents, and boost advocacy and programming events.

Au mentioned the HCA provides services which are usually provided by resident services. If the HCA is not able to provide these services, the university could “take over, but that would probably result in a rent increase,” he said.

“For many students, HUB mall’s main attraction is the lowest rent on campus for residents,” Au said. “So, having that increase would be something that many students would notice.”

To increase voter turnout, Au said that the HCA executive team will boost engagement amongst residents by hosting more events in HUB mall leading up to the referendum period.

Council members approve 2024 DFU questions

Faculte Saint-Jean councillor Jillian Aisenstat and Board of Governors (BoG) representative Stephen Raitz moved to approve the 2024 DFU questions for The Gateway, The Landing, and CJSR.

The motion passed unanimously.

Lastly, council moved into closed session to discuss student concerns regarding the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.