By Vanessa Broadbent (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: November 26, 2014
Student Union Society’s (SUS) November board meeting focused on preparing for the upcoming SUS elections, as well as various projects they are hoping to implement in the upcoming year.
A substantial part of the meeting was dedicated to updating the executive job descriptions for the upcoming student elections happening in February.
Student interest has been low in previous elections, but SUS is hoping to change that next year, not only in student elections, but also in next year’s federal elections. During the SUS executive trip to Ottawa to advocate for students with CASA, SUS president Ryan Petersen noticed that political parties appeared to be more interested in what student groups are advocating for.
“If we can increase the student voter turnout, it gives them so much more reason to pay attention us,” he said.
With Christmas just around the corner, SUS will be taking over the Angel Tree Program. In the past, the program has been run by UFV, but due to complications, SUS will be taking over. Petersen feels the program is too important to not continue.
“SUS has stepped up to take on this program because we feel it is an important service … it was last minute when we found that the university wasn’t going to do this anymore and we thought we need to make this happen,” he said. The only extra cost that will come as a result of running the program will be paying employees that get involved.
VP internal Thomas Davies shared news of new clubs forming on campus including Gleegion (a glee club), Athletes in Action, and a possible hookah club. Davies said he doesn’t see anything wrong with the hookah club as long as restrictions are placed on what substances are used on campus.
“It would be fine, but … if they are approved they will have some restrictions put on them to protect themselves and the university as a whole,” he said.
Students can also expect to see a SUS IT service in the future, or at least a referendum regarding one. Kwantlen University’s student association offers an on-campus IT service (called Reboot), and SUS is thinking of doing the same at UFV. The service would be focused on helping students with technological problems they may face, especially laptops or cellphones. The service would come at no charge for students, unless parts for repair need to be brought in. This would create around five jobs for students, as well as one outside professional.
Many of these changes are still in the works and not yet solidified. SUS says that students can expect to learn more details in the upcoming semester. Their next board meeting, the last of the semester, is on December 16, 6:30 p.m. in C1429 on the Abbotsford campus.
