By Michael Scoular and Megan Lambert (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 25, 2015
Nicole Dixon
Second-year, business
How many meetings have you attended/what is your background knowledge of the Senate?
I’ve read a few minutes of them now. I haven’t attended any but I plan to read through a few more of them during this week here.
Background knowledge of what the student rep position is?
Basically, word of mouth. I’ve talked to a few people now, one of which is on the senate again this year, and he told me what it’s about, and I’ve done some reading as well on the UFV website as to what they represent and what they do.
What are you studying?
I’m doing a business degree, I want to do a focus in accounting.
What year?
I’m in my second year.
How do you feel like you’ll be able to represent a whole number of students?
I’ve grown up here in Abbotsford and I actually started attending UFV when it was still the university college of the Fraser Valley, so I’ve had a little bit of time in and out of the school, and I switched my focus and came back to finish my education. So, I’ve had quite a bit of experience and exposure over the years to different perspectives from the students, and I’m actually working a little bit with local politics right now. So my focus is actually to connect with younger people around our age group and try to bring that perspective to the city, because I find that young people aren’t often represented very well when it comes to municipal politics, so I think my exposure to that as well would help me in the Senate.
What are you doing with the city?
I’m actually working with a local municipal party called Abbotsford First. So we’re tackling a bunch of different initiatives, one of which will be the U-district which hasn’t come across the table yet, but it’s something I’m working on researching and looking into a little bit more and seeing how I can help out with that as well.
How are you planning with the student body?
I do have my own personal facebook account and for the election I started a nomination account called ‘Vote Nicole Dixon’, so I’ve been able to communicate a little through that, as well as some of my classmates throughout some of this as well. Aside from that, I have a twitter account, I have a linkedin profile under Nicole Dixon that can be looked at as well.
There’s been a lot of controversy around the Writing Centre and how it was put forth. Some people say it wasn’t discussed with faculty and students. What do you think of the manner in which the Senate communicates with faculty, staff, and students?
I think that the faculty and mainly the students are there for a purpose, and I think the university is there for the students, so they should be consulting before making big decisions like that. My understanding is that it came out of nowhere as well, I didn’t hear a whole lot of discussion before the decision was already made which personally bothers me quite a bit because I’ve used the Writing Centre a number of times. I think it’s a really important resource for students, and I don’t think it’s fair on behalf of the school to make a decision without actually consulting the people who it effects, and that actually really bothered me.
Would you consider sharing what happens in the Senate through social media?
Definitely. Whatever I’m permitted to share, I’ve got a very open book policy, I like to keep people involved because that’s the best way to have all kinds of different perspectives and we’re there to represent the students in the Senate, before candidates. So it would make sense for me to relay that to the people I’m representing and get feedback from them before decisions are made, I think that’s the biggest mistake they made with the Writing Centre. Not being open about it comes across as being deceptive and sneaky, and I’m really not for that. I really like transparency.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I don’t think so, I have a huge passion for trying to add to the school’s success.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
