So when I made a commitment to keep a blog of what was happening at the Student Union I never really imagined that it would be this difficult. Honestly, I have to give major kudos to Perez and all those other people out there who keep blogs and actually update them on a daily, or semi-weekly basis. You really have to be dedicated.
It’s not that I have become disinterested in sharing with you all what’s been happening around the student union. Nor have I suddenly lost the ability to type, or connect to the Internet. But to be completely honest, this is the last thing that I put on my list of things to do every week. At first I thought, hey that’s a great idea because then I can write about what happened during the week and then give everyone a heads up about what’s happening the next week. Ha. Turns out that most weeks by Friday I am so exhausted and behind that I not only don’t have the energy to write a blog, I usually am too caught up in trying to complete all the other things I was supposed to finish that week and seem more important.
Now maybe that is still a good approach. After all, the posting of a new blog by me is pretty inconsequential in terms of what happens at UPEI and the student union. I would quite honestly be surprised to find out if people even bother to read my posts (although I post so rarely now I’m sure anyone who was trying to follow them gave up weeks ago). Nevertheless, I do feel bad when I look at the website and realize that I haven’t found the time to post something new in a while. So today I made sure to block off some time to post a new blog… after all, there has been a lot that has happened in the past few weeks that I’m sure anyone who reads this would be interested in hearing about.
Before I get to that, I would like to note that we are about to enter what I refer to as Midterm Season. Over the next two weeks, most students will write their midterms and transition into the final stretch of the first term that is the month of November. Sadly, for Arts students like myself, Midterm Season gives way to Paper Season, which only just precedes Exam Season. All this is happening inside the classroom and library. Outside we are moving from Fall to Winter, another transition of seasons that is not welcomed by everyone on campus. We seem to be moving into winter-like conditions earlier this year than others in recent memory. It’s been absolutely frigid all week, and Wednesday brought with it hail, on two different occasions, and a bought of flurries in the late evening. I have always enjoyed fall on PEI, but we weren’t really treated to many of the cool – temperate even – sunny fall days that I like so much. Sadly it looks like I will have to wait until next year again now (sigh).
So what the heck have we been up to at the Student Union lately? Well for those of you who haven’t heard, the Council has been busy revamping the vision and mission statements of the student union. We have even passed a statement of core values of the student union. Here’s what we have now:
UPEI Student Union - Organizational Foundations
Vision
As a unifying body, the UPEI Student Union strives to provide leadership while assisting students as they obtain the highest standards in their academic and personal life; enhancing their quality of life now and into the future.
Mission
The UPEI Student Union is a non-profit democratic representation of students. We are dedicated to fostering pride in the university, the betterment of university life, and enhancing the student experience at UPEI. We value our independence as an organization while maintaining effective relationships with the university and surrounding community.
Core Values
Representation for all students
Transparency, Honesty, and Accountability
Fun, Participation, and Engagement
Progress (Growth, Strength, Best Practices, Creative Solutions, etc.)
Sustainability (Triple Bottom Line - Financial, Social and Environmental)
So, I have been asked over the past few days by students and Cadre (I’ll get to this shortly) Editors why is this important, and should students care? Quite simply, every organization needs direction. I believe that for some time the student union has been pursuing the ideals we have included in our vision and mission statements, we have just never put them on paper. Our old vision and mission statements didn't do much to inspire those who are involved in our organization. I can't be certain that our new ones will either, but I like to think that the new wording is not any worse. Finally, it has been public for some time that this year the student union will be writing and implementing a three-year strategic plan. An updated vision and mission statement that illustrate what the union should be working towards will help us devise a strategic plan to help us reach our goals. Also, putting our core values in writing will ensure that our strategic plan adheres to what we feel is most important as a union, such as representing all students in a fair and open way.
Since I’m sure everyone is extremely excited about the news of the vision and mission statements, I’ll move on to something even more exciting… government!
Last week the Student Union Executive met with Premier Robert Ghiz, and Minister of Innovation and Advanced Learning Alan Campbell to discuss issues pertaining to PSE, particularly the need for some predictability in funding (especially with regards to how it will impact tuition). The Premier and his Minister did not make any grandiose promises, but indicated that UPEI and PSE in general was number three on the government’s list of priorities, behind healthcare and Education (the K-12 system).
I also had the chance last week to meet with the Leader of the Opposition, Olive Crane. We had a productive discussion along the same lines as the conversation with the Premier. Governments continued investment in the university and the students of Prince Edward Island is certainly a worthwhile one, and we hope to see continued improvements in the delivery of scholarship and bursary programs as well as the provincial student loan program. All in all, the Executive felt that our discussions with government were positive.
Changing tack, I wanted to mention the fall general election of the student union. The unofficial results were announced yesterday, and although there was only one contested race, we had a surprisingly strong voter turnout of about 25%. While this is certainly far from the rate of participation we saw in last spring’s general election (a record setting 50.4%), it is on the higher end of some of the numbers we have seen over the past few years in the fall. I certainly expect this to change next fall when students vote again on a highly contentious issue, UPASS.
The one aspect of our elections that I would like to highlight was the referendum question on the name of the newspaper. Students selected the Cadre over the Panther Post by only 6 votes (327-321). Clearly opinion is almost evenly divided amongst those who voted over what the name of the paper should be. Regardless of my own personal opinion as to what the paper should be called, I am happy that a vote has been taken and the issue is now dealt with (even if the Cadre did not receive resounding support from the student body). One thing is certain, the student council’s policy committee will be instructed to draft policy around changing the name of the student newspaper so that this does not happen every year. We can’t have the name of the paper changing on the whim of every new editor.
As a final note, tomorrow night from 7-9:30pm you can come out and participate in an astronomy session here at UPEI. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Charlottetown Centre will be using the telescope in the dome on top of Memorial Building. Now I don’t know about you, but I have always wanted to use that telescope ever since I first became a student here. Now, finally, in my last year at UPEI I will get to see what the thing is actually capable of. Hope to see you all there.
Best of luck with your midterms!
Timothy Cullen
UPEISU President