Notes from Council: July 14 and August 4 meetings

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

During the July 14 University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) Students’ Council meeting business councillor Josh Rivor and science councillor Nabeeha Irfan were appointed to the Social Media subcommittee. The subcommittee provides students with updates on the Students’ Council, facilitates discussions between students and representatives, and increases councillor participation.

At the August 4 meeting, Board of Governors (BoG) representative Amaan Khan presented on his plans for the role during his 2026–27 term. He emphasized advocacy for student concerns, accessibility to the BoG’s decisions, and affordability to services provided to students.

Another aspect of his plan is to ensure a better transition for the next BoG representative. “There is no formal institutional guideline that the board rep has to follow,” Khan said. He plans to create documents for the next representative in order to keep the role as productive as possible.

Following Khan’s presentation, Students’ Council participated in a philosophical discussion around the purpose and the role of councillors. The majority of the councillors agreed that they have a responsibility to the students in their faculties, especially when making decisions that will affect them.

However, as members of committees, they agreed that they should be keeping the whole student body in mind.

Canada-UK Students’ Union Leadership Development Programme

Paige Wall, vice-president (student-life), also presented on the Canada-United Kingdom (UK) Students’ Union Leadership Development Programme she attended in the UK from July 26 to August 2. During this trip she was able to learn from other Canadian and UK students’ unions.

“I really wanted to learn how other students’ unions approach the same challenges that we face. Things like governance, student engagement, well-being, and leadership development,” Wall said. One of her goals was to take these ideas and find ways to apply them here.

Wall met with various students’ unions from across Canada and the UK during this trip. The universities included five European students’ unions and four Canadian organizations.

She was able to partake in leadership workshops with these students’ unions and explore ways to continuing engaging with one another in the future. The most feasible idea she brought back pertains to the Campus Food Bank. Instead of vendors throwing out leftover food at the end of the day, it would be collected and added to a community fridge with expiration dates. Students could then access it for free.

Question period

During question period, arts councillor Gurnain Bhatia, and Faculté Saint-Jean councillor Sophia Sparks read out a statement on behalf of the councillors. The statement responded to an email sent on July 20 to the council regarding the expenses for Wall’s UK trip.

The email stated concerns from Vice-president (operations and finance) (VPOF) Logan West around the allocation of the funds for Wall’s trip. She wrote that she believes “this is an inappropriate and irresponsible allocation of funds.” West wished to give the council context to ensure “adequate awareness of this decision.”

She wrote that Wall had asked for $3,200 from the Project Allocation Fund during the July 16 executive committee meeting. The committee approved the allocation, with West and Vice-president (academic) Susan Huseynova in opposition.

Later, Wall responded in an email that the actual cost was $1,317.03 for accommodation. Her original estimate for accommodation was $2,500 from the total of $3,200.

Rather than reiterate concerns around the expenses, the councillors instead wanted to “reflect on how this matter was brought to us and … ensure this process serves council and students well going forward.”

The councillors stressed that “council is here to provide oversight, not to be the first place internal disagreements are resolved.” They ended by reflecting on their oath and what being elected by, and representing the interests of the student body means.

Huseynova and West responded to the councillors by noting that it is within West’s role as VPOF to make the council aware of financial decisions that concern the student body.

West stated that it was not a thoughtless decision to send out the email. However, she agreed with President Jospeh Sesek that there are ways for the Executive Committee to improve their communication.

“Conflicts are natural,” Huseynova concluded. “I’m glad that the … [council] feels comfortable enough … to bring these concerns forward.”