Students’ Union sets priorities for the year

By Susan Anderson, September 25 2014 —

Students’ Union executives have released their goals and priorities for the year, which include improving campus Wi-Fi, adding a charging station in MacHall, providing adequate prayer space and advocating for open textbooks and bursaries.

SU president Jarett Henry said the university’s $2.4 million Wi-Fi upgrades are nearly done.

“All of the routers and upgrades have been installed in MacHall, but the university IT department hasn’t come through and hooked them up to the system yet,” Henry said.

Charging stations for phones and laptops will likely be installed in MacHall by the end of the year.

Temporary overflow prayer space is available on the fourth floor of MacHall, but Henry is looking for a long-term solution. The SU has been working with administration to find space under the Dining Centre.

The SU wants to secure a new prayer space by the end of the year.

Other initiatives include increasing funding for the Undergraduate Research Symposium, improving the Advocacy Task Force and expanding the online events calendar.

SU vice-president operations and finance Adam Swertz is happy with the progress the SU has made on the negotiations over the MacHall operating agreement.

He said the discussions are going better than last year. The current agreement expires on Dec. 9.

Executives must cooperate with officials at the administrative, municipal and provincial level. Henry said he’s optimistic about the goals they’ve set.

“We wouldn’t have put any of these goals down in our annual plan if we didn’t think they were possible,” Henry said.

But Henry said that other challenges may arise with the long-term goals.

“Sometimes things don’t fit into a neat eight-month timeline,” Henry said.