Harvesting that homegrown talent…

Anyone who attended the ULSU’s March 26th Last Lecture event knows that you don’t need to bring in a big name with a big book deal in order to get students excited for an on-campus lecture. I attended several talks last year by world-renowned authors at which I was able to count the number of undergraduates in the audience on my two hands. The audience for the Last Lecture, on the other hand, was well beyond capacity. On a campus known for student apathy and a general lack of interest in academic life, Students Union volunteers were turning people away at the door! The rows were packed, seating was exhausted, and the edges of the classroom were lined with eager listeners.

“Why so much hype?,” you might ask. Was it because the event promoted like mad? Did everyone happen to have the same night off work? Was there some sort of nefarious conspiracy by the speakers to blackmail those students who would otherwise be drinking their faces off at a neighbourhood pub?

While I have no definite answer, I suspect that no one of the suggestions above was a deciding factor in the overwhelming popularity of the event. I suspect, rather, that students were genuinely excited to hear from their very own U of L profs. The fact is, the success of the event is not particularly closely related to the prominence of the speaker. Of course, I will go nuts over a talk by Thomas Homer-Dixon, or Jeffrey Simpson, or whomever, as will a small group of my friends, but we are a small group indeed. There are few authors or academics whose names alone will draw a crowd. Those whose names will draw a crowd are those who are known to the students, and those who are most often known to the students are those brilliant men and women who make up our own faculty.

For many students, a good professor is one of the people they look up to most. Everyone at this school has a few favourite professors who they’d love to see at an evening lecture, unrestrained by the narrow confines of course material. I know I can think of a few. It’s evident that each of the three professors who spoke at the last lecture has such a following.

What I’d like from you, dear readers, is your own list of suggestions as to which on-campus stars the ULSU should approach as speakers (or alternately, performers) at student events. I’m not talking strictly about the Last Lecture. Ever since witnessing the outstanding success of the last lecture, I’ve been pondering the huge amount of potential that the ULSU has missed out on by failing to focus more strongly on faculty-centred events. Of course, these don’t have to be faculty, per se; if you know of any grad students or staff who would put on a brilliant student event, please include them in your suggestions.

Please send your suggestions to su.academic@uleth.ca. You can also visit me (SU 180) or phone me (329-2770) during business hours.

ULSU Website Evaluation

The University of Lethbridge Students’ Union is currently conducting an evaluation of its website (http://ulsu.ca/) and we would like to get your opinion on the matter. The ULSU has put together a survey aimed at collecting the opinions and satisfaction levels of its users to do this. This survey will ask you to rate your level of satisfaction on a number of questions, covering all the major areas of the ULSU website. The survey is anonymous so feel fee to write whatever your personal assessment of the website is. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bWYP1obGPQ50JFJ_2brqaT7A_3d_3d

Summer at the U: U and the mayor.

Everyone knows that feeling they get when they are told to get “involved in something” or “there are so many opportunities you should take advantage of”. It seems to me that the feeling is not one of “screw that”, but rather a distant “maybe I should, but I wouldn’t know where to start, so I won’t”. If I’m completely out to lunch well then I guess I’m sorry, and crazy. Assuming I’m not completely crazy, I know about something that just might be simple enough to do and feel good about without cutting into too much of your summer fun. This something is called a City Circle. A City Circle sounds great in the first place just because it is one of the best geometric shapes, far superior to any city square, which means Lethbridge is better than New York and Beijing. However, a city circle is not something that we are going to build but rather something that is going to build us. Before I tell you what they are, consider how much we all love Vancouver (or would if it were not so rainy, or unless this is another one of my crazy person moments.) Van is a pretty sweet city that most people love. They have a city circle; or rather city circles, or more accurately they had City Circles. Vancouver used the idea of small groups of citizens sitting around the proverbial kitchen table or coffee shop talking about what their city should be. Long story short, it worked and it worked well. The city listened to ideas and problems that had never crossed their elected minds. They even listened to the solutions that these citizens thought were reasonable, then took all those ideas and suggestions and used them to create the urban development plan for the city. It lent an ear to the people and in a real way: the public’s concerns were not just heard but listened to—almost like democracy.

Okay, so have I come close to telling you what a city circle is? No. here’s the formal definition {“A City Circle is a self-formed and self-managed group of Lethbridge residents who want to help with preparing the new plan. To form a City Circle get a group of friends together; they can be from work, school, sport, extracurricular, an existing organization, your family, or all of the above—there are no rule for how your Circle organizes itself. Your City Circle will meet when and where its member want and discuss any community related issue you choose.”} Some social activism for your summer might be a pretty good way to explore what you think a city should be. Address any issue you think it is worthwhile. Maybe consider something like the cancerous growth that is Calgarian urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is one of the topics started in a facebook based city circle on housing so if you’re not starting your own then contribute to this one.   These city circles are a major part of a smaller oversight committee that will be charged with the task of going through the suggestion of each and every city circle, and designing the new Lethbridge City Plan around them. Last year the Students Union fought for a seat on this committee and now we have it. SU President Jeremy and VP internal Cole sit on this committee to make sure post secondary students, who make up 10-15% of the population, are in that plan. But we need more students to spark a city circle and send those ideas strait onto the mayors desk. The City Circle work ends sept 1st so take the summer down time and get started on it right away.

Beyond the geometric shape of social activity there is a list of amazing opportunities for students within Canada and globally; in my personal opinion, I would give up a lot to take part in some of these. One I just heard about this morning: As part of its 2009 FilterForGood campaign, Brita has partnered with the award-winning organization Students on Ice (SOI) to launch the Filter For Good Eco-Challenge Student Grant Program. This means a major grant that will take you to the Arctic all summer studying ice with leading scientists, might be the start of an amazing career.

Some are more of a job- you may even get paid for it:  http://www.sierraclub.ca/prairie/

Some are grass roots lobbying- The Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) is in the early stages of organizing an event called Power Shift Canada. We need YOU!

..Could be one hell of a summer if you really feel like getting out there.

Federal lobbying with CASA

For those of you that don’t know, one of the primary mandates of the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union (ULSU) is to advocate for students on a municipal, provincial and federal level. The ULSU fulfills the federal aspect of our advocacy mandate with our membership in the Canadian Alliance of Students Associations (CASA).

Federal lobbying provides the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union with another vessel to express the needs of UofL students to the federal level of government. The ULSU believes that it is important to lobby the federal level of government because they can play a vital role in controlling student debt and in increasing the accessibility and affordability of a post-secondary education.

CASA is, in essence, an alliance of student associations and unions formed to lobby/advocate for the best interests of students on a national level. This organization is composed of 24 post-secondary institutions in Canada and represents more than 300,000 students. It is a lobby group that is focused solely on post-secondary education at the federal level and inter-governmental levels of decision-making and nothing else.

CASA prides itself as a lobby group that presents realistic  on post-secondary education to the federal level of government. The ULSU strongly respect the lobbying methods used by CASA because they make sound pragmatic arguments to party leaders, senators, members of parliament and other political policy-makers to draw the government’s attention at a more personal level about education.

This is a member-driven organization that operates under a “one school, one vote” philosophy where each school has equal say regardless of its size. The membership, rather than the staff, shapes the policy, goals and direction of the organization.  

The organization operates under four primary policy principals.

Accessibility: CASA believes that any academically qualified student with the desire to pursue post-secondary education should not face a barrier – financial, social, political, physical, cultural, or otherwise.

Affordability: CASA believes that students should not accumulate an unreasonable or insupportable amount of debt in the pursuit of a post-secondary education or in continuing such an education.

Innovation: CASA believes that post-secondary education should have sustainable research programs across all disciplines, with the benefits of such research shared across all levels of the student body.

Quality: CASA believes in a quality public post-secondary education system that is properly funded, effective and accountable; cooperatively maintained and enhanced by the federal and provincial governments.

CASA has worked on and has advocated for several issues that the ULSU feels is relevant to students such as the Canada Student Loans Program, the Canada Student Grant Program, Canada Study and Access Grants, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, access and affordability of PSE for under-represented students, Debt Reduction in Repayment, Interest Relief, and interest and rates on student loans ¹

 

“CASA has played an important role in the development of federal policies on post-secondary education – in particular the Canadian Opportunities Strategy.  I am confident that these young leaders, and the organization they now represent, will continue to have a positive influence on the federal policy in the future.”

- The Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, then Minister of Finance.

“Your input is welcomed and encouraged without reservation.  Our party will try to give voice to the very real concerns that face Canadian students.  It is only with your help that we can accomplish this.”

– Rt. Hon. Joe Clark

 

“CASA’s recommendations have been taken very seriously by the government, and many of them have found their way into federal budgets.”

- Hon. Maurizio Bevilaqua
Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development
and former Chair of the House of Commons Finance Committee.

Council of Alberta University Stu-Whaaa?

CAUS and its Role

The ULSU is a member of CAUS, the Council of Alberta University Students. Why should you care? First, the Post-Secondary Learning Act, which also mandates our existence, directs us to provide a voice for students at the municipal, provincial, and federal level. Second, CAUS provides that Albertan venue for expression of Lethbridge University students’ concerns about their education, and how it is affected by the provincial government. Most importantly, if we sit still with our hands crossed, listening without giving any feedback to the people operating the education system we go into debt or work hard to pay for, do we deserve the terrible treatment we would likely receive?

What happens when one doesn’t stand up for themself

What happens when we all voice our opinions and come to compromise.

 

Advocacy

Advocacy is the name of the game. Through round-table discussion, the Council is currently discussing what our provincial lobbying priorities will be for the next year. Balancing local issues with provincial issues, the Council must come to a consensus as to how we will be approaching the government in the next lobby conference. Stronger together than separately, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge Students’ Unions will come to agreement and then approach the relevant ministries to get tangible results that benefit our students.

08/09 Lobbying Priorities and Accomplishments:

• We lobbied for increased deferred maintenance –i.e. monies for repairing and upkeeping University buildings. The year saw $155 million in new funding and a promise to match federal funding for deferred maintenance.
• CAUS asked for tuition increases to not exceed the CPI cap. This means that as the Consumer Price Index increases (it did by 2% this year), institutions cannot increase tuition past that. Indeed, the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, Doug Horner, committed to this, and with CPI going down from 5% to 2% in 09/10, the increase to tuition has gone down from previous years. 
• Further, CAUS asked for the elimination of property taxes on University residences, in order to create an environment encouraging Universities to complete capital projects to create new residences.

 

What the 09/10 ULSU Exec have been up to

This past week, the ULSU Exec went to a CAUS changeover conference, to discuss policy direction for the next year, and elect new positions for the Council Board.

09/10 Lobbying Priorities:

• Improving student financial aid
• Keeping tuition tied to CPI
• Increasing base operating funding to Alberta’s universities
• Targeting deferred maintenance
• Disability Student Resources
• Elections Act to to be more student-friendly

Through CAUS, your expectations that the SU will be providing you with a voice to the provincial government are met. Exceedingly, this year’s executives believe that the Council of Alberta University Students is an organization to invest time and resources into, to benefit UofL students. A new townhouse-style residence building is in the University’s capital plan, so let’s help them with their goal by creating a positive financial environment for them to complete their project and provide students with more spaces. As the recession hits the University, they may want to increase tuition to fund their operations, so let’s make sure we have tuition tied to CPI to make sure students can afford their education. As University Hall’s cramped science laboratories generate layers of chemical crust, lets help the University secure funding to move those labs out of that building, off the heads of all those residence students living a few floors down. Support us in supporting you. Generate conversation with our peers about these issues and make sure every student you meet is well-informed. However, if nothing else, stay tuned. There is more to come.

Cheers,

Jeremy Girard

Hungry for Power? Concerned for Students

If you answered ‘yes’ to both questions, we have just the opportunity for you!As you may know, the future of the ULSU has recently been placed in the nervous hands of a brand new General Assembly and Executive Council. Since the beginning of this month, we’ve gotten right down to work on our primary mandate: student advocacy. Many students know the ULSU from our more public activities: hosting concerts, booking speakers, operating the Zoo, and the like. What you may not know is that our most important work happens behind the scenes. We love the glitzier aspects of our jobs, but our function, first and foremost, is to ensure that students’ rights and interests are not overlooked by University and government.

Fortunately, the University gives us an opportunity to look out for undergrads by staffing various committees with student representatives. That’s where you come in: the SU wants volunteers to help represent student interests. Looking to get more involved on campus but don’t know where to start? Do you feel that important student concerns are being overlooked by administration? Do you want an opportunity to network with influential people on campus? Join a committee!

The fact is that this university is largely run by committees, and those committees take student reps very seriously. If you want a say in running this institution, look no further. All you need to do is contact me by e-mail at su.academic@uleth.ca or by phone at 403-329-2770. Feel free to drop by the Students’ Union office (SU 180) for more information.

Gratitude.

I am just finishing packing up my office here in SU 180. Two years has a way of making personal effects accumulate in your workspace.

I am too tired right now to go into a long, philosophical (and emotional)  exploration of what the last two years has meant to me, and hopefully, the organization.

So, in it’s stead, I will offer this:

Thank you. In the deepest, truest, and most sincere form that those 2 words can be offered… Thank you.

My time here has meant more to me than you can know, and I could not have done it without you. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you challenging me. Thank you for the arguments and the disagreements. Thank you for the life altering conversations and discussions. Thank you for the support, for the wisdom, and for the guidance. Thank you for the trust, and for making me work hard to earn it. Thank you for the criticism and for the encouragement. Thank you for being there to push me through the hard parts, and for sharing in the good ones. Thank you for everything you have done for me, especially the things that I don’t know about. Thank you for helping me to be better.

Sincerely,

Adam Vossepoel

(Former) ULSU President

Some cheap champagne after a hangover.

My last post on this ULSU blog as Vice President Academic…

What to say? This year has been amazing, its been thrilling and most of all, incredibly rewarding. I cannot think of the words that could express just how I feel leaving this organization.

So, in few words.

Thank you. To all who supported, all who detracted, to all who came in to visit, to rant, to cry and to demand retribution. I drink a glass of cheap champagne in your honor.

Love,

Jenn Prosser, no longer Vice President Academic of the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union.

(I dig the) Campus Roots Cooperative Garden

This weekend the Campus Roots Cooperative Garden club dug up the new and soon to be planted Campus Community Garden. I missed a bunch of the fun times, but still took some photo’s of the work done and felt a twinge a pride of the UofL community. Call me sentimental but I am pretty stoked to see all these individuals come together from different groups to create something beautiful.

This has been a long process and over the past two years Kyle Robinson and others have worked incredibly hard to make this happen, and now that it is I can only imagine the excitement these individuals must feel.

Well done, Roots Club, well done!

You can sign up for the Garden’s communal and individual plots here.

Love,

The ULSU (and the earth)

Gimme Shelter? Housing resources in Lethbridge

A little known program is available to Alberta residents here in Lethbridge to help out with high housing costs. The Rent Supplement Program, funded by the Alberta government and other stake holders and administered through Lethbridge Housing Authority, this program pays anything above the threshold of 30% of the tenants income to subsidize the difference between a negotiated market rent and 30% of the household income.

Any Alberta citizen is eligible to apply, but all applicants are prioritized based on need. This is a great program if you’re a student forced to live off campus due to residence being full and unable to accommodate your necessary monthly spending on your income because of the high cost of off campus housing. Families also benefit from this as it is total monthly income of the household. Application forms can be accessed here.

The LHA offers other housing programs to help individuals get into safe and affordable housing, if you or anyone you know need any help in this respect please contact them.

Housing remains to be a serious concern here in Lethbridge and although we have seen some movement in the number of rental proprieties available this past few months, it still is hovering at only about a 1% vacancy rate. Social Housing in Action (SHIA) and the Affordable Housing Task Forces (a joint committee with SHIA and the City of Lethbridge) have developed a plan to end homelessness, The Bringing Lethbridge Home Plan is available through the City of Lethbridge website as is Bob Tarleck’s personal vow to end homelessness. For information on what the province of Alberta is doing to combat this social issue, see their 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.