GFC approves new framework for student group oversight

At the University of Alberta’s General Faculties Council (GFC) meeting on April 27, a motion to approve the rescission of the Student Groups Procedure and establish a new collaborative framework between the university and the U of A Students’ Union (UASU) passed. Question period featured extensive discussion on the university’s removal of the Casavant Organ from Convocation Hall.

Additionally, reports on the university’s 10-year strategic plan, SHAPE, and the Changing the Story action plan were presented.

New collaborative framework modernizes student group oversight

GFC approved a new collaborative framework between the UASU and Student Success and Experience (SSE) to streamline student group administration.

Under this framework, the primary responsibility for student group registration and recognition will be transferred to the UASU. The UASU will also become “the primary administrator for event approvals and the primary approval authority for low and moderate risk event approvals,” UASU President Pedro Almeida said.

According to Almeida, student groups “should only notice more efficient, transparent, and streamlined processes as the UASU takes over this authority.”

SSE will continue to review events that are deemed high risk, Associate Vice-president (student experience) Sarah Wolgemuth said. SSE and the UASU have also developed a new risk matrix for student events.

Question period

During question period, arts representative Feodor Snagovsky raised concern with his submitted questions regarding elevator accessibility on campus not being directly answered.

He asked Vice-president (university services, operations, and finance) Todd Gilchrist to confirm “that the university has not formally reviewed what the accessibility implications of these elevator outages for students and staff are.”

In response, Gilchrist emphasized that the university’s elevator fleet “is not adequately reliable” to meet the university’s needs, which is why they are undertaking an elevator renewal program. Associate Vice-president (utilities and operations) Mike Kohlenberg said their team doesn’t historically track unplanned outages, but they do track the number of outage events per elevator on campus.

Vice-provost (access, community, and belonging) (ACB) Carrie Smith also mentioned the Accessible Spaces Project, which will address issues such as elevator accessibility. The project will be presented at the next GFC meeting, Smith said.

Additionally, Simone Willmann, a graduate student in the department of music, raised concerns with the upcoming removal of the Casavant Organ from Convocation Hall. Citing public opposition to the removal, Willmann said that “the depth of the opposition to this plan cannot be ignored.”

Robert Wood, dean of the faculty of arts, emphasized that accessibility is a main factor behind the removal. He mentioned that the second floor of Convocation Hall is only accessible by stairs, and the only access point is blocked by the organ.

“I do think it’s important to remember that we do have an obligation as a publicly funded institution with a strategic mandate to create accessible solutions in our spaces to follow through with this,” Wood said.

Reports on university strategic plans

Provost and Vice-president (academic) Verna Yiu presented a report on the implementation of SHAPE. Yiu said the inaugural 2023–26 implementation plan “has been highly successful.” She also mentioned that the university is “broadly on track to achieve [its] three-year targets and major deliverables.”

Afterwards, Smith presented the first-year annual report for Changing the Story. Smith said the report “represents one year of conversation and telling stories.” Progress reporting for the end of Changing the Story will begin in 2027, Smith said.