Leah HennigEach 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 TL;DR for a bite-sized breakdown.
Logan West: B+
For the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU), the vice-president (student life) (VPSL) holds one of the broadest and most emotionally demanding portfolios. The role spans safety, wellness, belonging, campus services, and crisis response — often with limited resources and slow institutional timelines. This year, Logan West approached the role with seriousness, empathy, and depth of focus.
Substantive leadership on sexual and gender-based violence
West’s most significant accomplishment was chairing and delivering the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Task Force Final Report. The report emerged from months of consultation, near-weekly meetings, and cross-campus collaboration, culminating in 11 detailed, actionable recommendations directed at the university and the UASU. Rather than offering vague commitments, the report outlined concrete pathways for change — ranging from mandatory consent education to expanded survivor support, culturally competent services for Indigenous students, and clearer accountability mechanisms.
Importantly, West treated SGBV not as a symbolic issue, but as a structural one. The task force addressed gaps in prevention, reporting, and recourse, while also acknowledging the emotional and institutional barriers survivors face. The report’s clarity and ambition reflect a VPSL willing to take on complex, uncomfortable work — and follow it through.
West consistently grounded her work in lived experience. She emphasized trauma-informed approaches, survivor agency, and the disproportionate impact of SGBV on women, gender-diverse students, Indigenous students, and international students. Ensuring Indigenous student leadership had a seat at the task force table was a material decision, not a performative one, and it shaped recommendations around culturally competent supports and restorative options.
Her work also extended to issues like sex-for-rent exploitation, sexual health awareness, and harm reduction — areas often discussed quietly, if at all. While progress in these areas remains ongoing, West succeeded in moving them into the institutional conversation in a serious way.
Varying portfolio wins
Beyond SGBV, West’s portfolio delivered several quieter but meaningful improvements. A ONEcard access pilot program is the first step towards enhanced campus safety. Parking ticket appeal timelines became more reasonable. French-language access for Campus Saint-Jean students improved. These wins varied in visibility depending on the student, but they mattered to those affected.
West also invested time supporting student groups, improving access to space, and building a sense of belonging through events like SGBV Awareness Week and Indigenous Celebration Week. While not all initiatives produced immediate, measurable outcomes, they contributed to a campus climate that felt more attentive and responsive.
West’s passion for student issues shone through when issues with residence came up. The price of residence and meal plans is expected to go up again this year. She invited Residence Services to a Students’ Council meeting to explain the increases and address student concerns. Residence Services declined the invitation.
West didn’t let that fly. She still presented on the increases and answered questions as best she could. She also didn’t hold back in her criticism of Residence Services. She went on to help facilitate an open letter to Residence Services, highlighting students’ concerns and helped organize a town hall, which Residence Services actually attended.
While this doesn’t completely resolve the issues students experience in residence, it showed strong advocacy from West and gave students an opportunity to hold Residence Services accountable.
Limits of scale and institutional timelines
The same depth that defined West’s SGBV work also exposed a limitation: capacity. The VPSL portfolio is vast, and West was candid about the challenges of balancing urgent student concerns with slow administrative processes. Some platform commitments — such as broader mobility initiatives — proved infeasible due to cost and institutional barriers.
At times, the portfolio felt stretched thin, with progress uneven across issue areas. While West demonstrated strong leadership on select files, the scale of student-life concerns means some priorities inevitably advanced more slowly than students hoped.
West brought compassion, seriousness, and depth to one of the UASU’s most demanding roles. Her leadership on sexual and gender-based violence set a new standard for survivor-centred, policy-driven student advocacy. While the breadth of the portfolio limited how much progress could be made everywhere at once, West’s impact where she focused was undeniable.
TL;DR: West delivered one of the most comprehensive SGBV initiatives the UASU has seen, paired with quieter student-life improvements. While the portfolio’s scale limited execution elsewhere, her depth of impact earns a strong B+.
