By Shane Potter (SUS President) – Email
Print Edition: March 6, 2013
The Student Union Society (SUS) has become stagnant; we have not grown with the university. In 2008 when UCFV became UFV, a full-fledged university, we started attracting a different calibre of students. I can say, as a student in my fifth year, the maturity, drive and engagement of our students has grown exponentially. Students are looking at our government composed of 19 elected officials and asking if we can do better. In my board reform I am proposing the following principles.
Open Committees
The five major committees of SUS are Governance, Finance, Events, Advocacy and Strategic Planning. In the new board reform structure the committees will be open to non SUS board members (regular students who pay SUS fees). This will create a type of government that is from the student body, or bottom up, rather than board members just informing students of their decisions. The committees will be chaired by a SUS board member but there will be up to eight SUS non-board members. An open government will improve the disconnect from the Society to the students as ideas will come in from individual students not board members.
Broader voting representation
The new Board structure will have voting members who are student leaders involved in Associations, Clubs, Senate and Board of Governors. This will allow greater control by students who engage in the Student Union. This greater cross section of the student community will be tasked with overseeing the mandate of the SUS along with keeping the SUS executive accountable for their decisions and work output. Also, by having students in a broader range of activities on campus, it will give us a greater understanding of student needs. Too often SUS has leaned towards one group of students or another, with wide consultation, we can represent the entire student population.
Open Government
Coupled with Budget reform, which opens up the budget creation process to the student body and open committees students will be able to engage the government at all levels. This will allow the students to actually see, take part, and digest the changes that are happening in government. This will be done through informing students about upcoming decisions and opening up more town-hall and student collaborated discussions.
Competitive Elections
By lowering the amount of paid SUS board members and increasing the student leader participation competitive elections are forced, creating an accountability structure. Instead of 19 students applying for 19 student union society positions, many of the smaller positions will be replaced with Association, Club or other involved students. There will also be a stronger focus on student hired positions for student positions such as Finance. This will allow successful candidates to be organized based on credentials rather than political campaigning ability. Most of the Society’s positions will still be elected; however, students can feel confident that there is some control and accountability over major positions like Finance.
The ideas behind this board reform are not new; many student unions through their growth are instituting, or have already adopted, similar models as we are proposing. We are just at a crossroad with the Student Union where our students need us to change. The board reform will be a positive change. To learn more about the board reform please see the SUS website (ufvsus.ca) or show up to the next General Meeting at the end of March.
