Potential Calgary Student Alliance membership, new MacHall vendor discussed at Oct. 2 SLC

By Matty Hume, October 3 2018 —

On Oct. 2, University of Calgary Students’ Union executives and faculty representatives met for a brief yet busy Students’ Legislative Council meeting.

The meeting began with general announcements, which included a reminder from SU vice-president academic Jessica Revington that abstract submissions for the Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) are open until Oct. 12. SU engineering representative Ashen Imran also announced that there are four candidates running for the vacant engineering representative position in the upcoming SU byelection. Voting is open Oct. 10–12 in MacHall, ICT and through the myUofC student centre.

SU president Sagar Grewal then announced and detailed the SU’s interest in joining the Calgary Student Alliance (CSA), a combined body of post-secondary students’ associations similar to the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) and Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), but on a municipal level. According to Grewal, the SU currently has ‘observer status’ with the CSA, as joining external advocacy groups requires two super-majority-approved proposal readings in SLC.

Cumming School of Medicine faculty representative Jarin Thundathil asked if the SU would be bound to CSA commitments, considering the SU recently released their own municipal advocacy priorities. Grewal responded that the CSA is already in favour of the SU’s advocacy priorities as it was made available as a public document, adding CSA membership would allow the SU to say they represent approximately 90,000 undergraduates in the city as opposed to only the 25,000 undergraduates at the U of C. According to Grewal, students’ associations from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Alberta College of Art and Design, Mount Royal University, Bow Valley College and the U of C Graduate Students’ Association are already CSA members.

Executive reports beginning with Grewal followed. Among other meetings, he reported potential changes to Ancillary Services rates and spoke to students at the university open house about ensuring gender-inclusive washrooms in the upcoming MacKimmie Tower and Mathison Hall buildings.

SU vice-president academic Jessica Revington reported attending a General Faculties Council meeting, in which a new draft of the university’s Alcohol Policy and upcoming changes to the U of C Code of Conduct were discussed. SU vice-president student life Nabila Farid reported planning the university’s Flourish Week and Wellness Fair.

In the report from SU vice-president operations and finance Kevin Dang, he announced a new MacHall vendor called U-Toppings Pizza which will replace the now-closed Pita on the Run. The opening of U-Toppings Pizza is currently delayed due to construction.

Dang also reported on the Operations and Finance Committee, including the approval of a $4,000 extra-budgetary expenditure for the refugee student program. Dang then reported that the Nominations Committee appointed members of SLC and Students at Large to various committees, including Policy Review and Development.

SLC continued with faculty representative reports, which largely included meetings with faculty deans and preparation for student events such as the Faculty of Arts Study Abroad Fair and Quality Money proposals.

The next meeting of SLC will be on Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the MacHall Executive Council Chambers. Access elected official reports, trimester reports, minutes and all other SLC documents here.