Arthur MacatangayTo make a meaningful impact, those impacted have to know about it — a student union’s operations are no exception to this rule. For any campus in Canada, or worldwide, having a student union is incredibly important to the social health of the university. Every year at the University of Alberta, new U of A Students’ Union (UASU) executives come in to make the campus better than how they found it. Like any other student union, the UASU runs with the goal in mind of addressing student issues. But, how are they going to help students who don’t know who they are or what they do? They simply can’t.
According to the Canadian Student Union Index, the UASU ranks sixth in Canada compared to all the U15 schools. While it is difficult to rank student unions against each other, this is nonetheless a good place to start. Even though the ranking system isn’t perfect, it’s interesting to see how our student union compares to others. But, more importantly, the history of student unions in Canada make clear how crucial they are to society and how they have affected real change.
In Canada, the first secular organization for student unions started in 1926 and was named the National Federation of Canadian University Students (NFCUS). It started with a post-war desire to bring harmony and international peace. Much like other parts of Canadian history, though, it isn’t something to be particularly proud of. The start of NFCUS was rooted in pro-British, pro-imperialist, pro-empire, and pro-white movements. NFCUS was anything but an apolitical organization. Besides the tumultuous start of NFCUS, though, there was still room for students to make real, international change later on in the age of the Cold War.
It has been documented that Canadian students were coming into regular contact with the United States (U.S.) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Soviet Union Committee for State Security (KGB) agents during the late 1940s and early 1950s. But, it’s hard to nail down in what capacity and how often this was happening, as very little was ever properly documented. Even with the know-about of this event, there is no doubt that students and student politics are incredibly important.
This kind of documentation shows that the impact that students, student unions, and their representatives have extends beyond their own campus. The U of A is a top 100 school worldwide and a top five school in Canada. It doesn’t make sense then, why so few students are involved in the UASU. Unfortunately, students just don’t know what the UASU is at all —which makes for an ineffective student union.
If you are one of the few people who make it to the UASU’s council meetings, whether online or in-person, you’ll know that not many students show up. Even if the agenda is short, the meetings still stand as an important place for students to voice concerns and advocate for their needs. And if you’ve taken a look at the U of A subreddit, it’s clear people always want to voice their concerns and complain about campus. But this isn’t the best method to make change. There are many different services on campus that could truly help many students, but the unfortunate truth is that many are under-utilized. And this is where the UASU lacks in their ability to help students.
Built into every UASU executive position is advocacy. While each UASU executive job comes with specific roles, they need to start by advocating for themselves better. Vice-president operations and finance, academic, external, and student life are all tailored to fight specific battles on campus, while the president oversees them all. But none of these executive roles can be fulfilled properly if students on campus don’t know what’s happening. Even achievements that do take place would still go under-appreciated and undervalued by students. This simply shouldn’t be the case.
Just looking back on the last UASU election, there was a 17.22 per cent turnout. This is a 5.4 per cent decrease from the year previous. This is upsetting to say the least. When such a small amount of students are involving themselves with the UASU, it’s practically impossible to deliver meaningful change.
Students are the backbone of a society. University students create more jobs and better the economy. In the most literal sense, students are the future at any point in time. So, having fewer than 10 per cent of students being active in what’s happening on campus just feels wrong. The U of A should have a much higher engagement rate. For how influential this university is, it’s really quite hard to believe that a majority of students don’t care. It doesn’t mean everything is hopeless however.
Just because things could look better now, doesn’t mean a change can’t come. There are plenty of things students can do on campus to get more involved. The best option is to get to know the UASU executives. Showing up at council meetings — the dates of which are on the UASU website — is another great starting point. Even if it sounds cheesy, making your voice heard is important. The UASU executives are the exact people who want to hear your concerns. Email, go in person — talk, and say what you see on campus. Moreover, the UASU executives need to meet students where they’re at.
Students should be involving themselves on campus. It’s so important for the health of the university. Yes, students should be getting involved on campus more. Not all of the blame, however, falls on the students for not knowing. Instead, the UASU team needs to make their team and goals known. No meaningful change will come with a student population that doesn’t know of the student union’s existence. Even if student politics aren’t CIA- or KGB-level crazy, they are still important. The small changes at the campus level can easily influence much more at the municipal, provincial, and national levels. Even if it doesn’t seem like it now, it’s much easier to look back on history than it is to be living in it.
