Rock the Vote

I tried to keep myself busy today, I spent all morning packing for a weekend conference at McMaster for the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and braced myself for an eventful evening:

4:00pm - Class Presentation worth 25% of my mark

6:00pm - Sang "I Believe" at the Organization of Part-time Students (OPUS) Awards

7:00pm - Met with the Chief Returning Officer about the evenings electoral result proceedings

7:30pm - Attended the Evening with Elizabeth May which the UWSA sponsored (she was great!)

8:00pm - Gave a speech on Racism in the CAW for a Human Rights antiracist Journal launch

9:00pm - Awarded the winners of the Men and Women's Pentathlon - GO JAMIE! GO LANCERS!

and now... I wait.

Who will carry the torch that is the advocacy - representation - services duties of the UWSA?

.... only time will tell.

-Gooch

Knock, knock, knock...

The sound of presidential hopefuls knocking on my door for advice as they prepare their campaigns.  I won't name names, it will be their jobs to announce their candidacy whenever they are ready but I'll say this: it will be an interesting race.  

It's a scary thought that in a few months I will be done here and someone else will be taking my favourite job... but it's going to happen.  

Regardless of who is currently planning on running, I still have a job to do.  I have four months to complete the goals I set back in May of '08.  Hopefully I can stay on top of my game and go out with a bang.  

I'm rejuvenated and ready for '09.

OH! And Happy New Year!

I apologize for the late reply...

The month of December was an interesting one in the UWSA Presidential office.  In November I was away quite a bit lobbying in queens park and then attending a CFS national meeting in Ottawa.  As such I got behind in emails, and then behind in projects until I was drowning in a sea of work I didn't know how to get out of.

Fed up with my inability to get back on top of my game I came in to work at 3am Monday December 15 and worked another one of those 24h work days until I was done answering all of my emails.  Most of the emails began with the quote "I apologize for the late reply" because the person had contacted me weeks prior and while I had made a mental note to reply it took a long time to get around to it.  

There is a constant demand to be on top of your game as the president.  I easily get 30 important emails a day (20 more spam), that all require concerted effort to reply and do the work requested in the email.  Meetings run all day rarely with breaks in between and before I know it, the day is over and it feels like nothing was accomplished.  

My breaking point came when I received my first UCAPT package (a committee which decides the promotion and tenure for faculty members).  It was the size of a large text book and I had to read and assess it in only a few days time.  I did not take this responsibility lightly, it was imperative that I represented students and did the best job possible on this committee.  Which by the way is only one of over 25 committees I sit on to "represent students".  

If I could summarize December, I would say it was the month that I picked up my life.  After I spent a week getting back on top of all of my work I was able to truly rest.  I spent time at home, cleaned my room, saw my family, did laundry, organized my personal life, got my personal finances together (My OSAP loans became payable in November :S)  and visited with my friends who I hadn't seen in what seemed like years.

I'm rejuvenated and ready for the New Year, hopefully I can STAY on top of my game now that I've got my act together.  

Queens Park

I apologize for the blog hiatus but I assure you it has been for good reason.  Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a provincial lobby conference with the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA).  

OUSA is a coalition of elected university student councils from across Ontario, 

Your new OUSA campus coordinator Laine McGarragle and I represented Windsor in several lobby meetings with members of provincial parliament and various post secondary education stakeholders (Council of Ontario Universities, Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations...).

We spoke about three main issues:  Student Financial Aid, Funding and Access to Education.  We spoke about the problems with OSAP that need to be addressed and the necessity for continued and greater investment in post secondary education from the provincial government.  We spoke of the need for government support of early outreach initiatives in their grassroots forms across Ontario.  

We shared the sentiment with OCUFA that "quality matters" and discussed ways in which we could work together on campaigns about quality education.

Perhaps the most interesting discussion that took place during the lobby conference was one with Steve Peters (the speaker of the house) about the necessity for there to be a united student movement.  Why is it that the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and the Canadian Federation of Students can not work together?  It is the age old question, and Windsor just might be the only school with the ability to bridge that gap.  

I returned to Windsor that Thursday at 12pm only to discover that I was TRIPLE booked at 3pm for three very important meetings.  Since I am unable to clone myself it was a challenge addressing that issue.  

Lobbying at Queens Park was fun, but nothing beats a day on the job in Windsor.

The Co$t of an Appeal

Today was a good day.  

I entered the office just in time to make it outside for the Remembrance Day service and sing the Anthem.  I was honoured to participate in the service to pay tribute to those soldiers who gave their lives in wars past.

Early in the afternoon I was scheduled to have a meeting with President Wildeman to discuss unique Windsor related government funding issues and strategies to get them on the provincial agenda.  The meeting was short but quite effective.

Immediately after the brief discussion with Dr. Wildeman I made my way over Toldo 203 to prepare for the Senate meeting about to take place.  After weeks of preparation and heavy lobbying the day had finally come for the vote to take place for a proposed bylaw change.  A proposal was going forward to change the wording of bylaw 51 which originally read that Appeals would cost $20, and would change to "applicable fee".  

It was argued that such a change was necessary because the senate should not be setting fees and it was inappropriate to have a monetary amount in a bylaw.  

I am omitting quite a bit of information but it should also be noted that another body within the University that has no student representation changed the fee back in April to $35.

I busied myself handing out a document which I had prepared the night before to all of the senators and briefly explaining to all of them that the students were recommending that this motion be defeated.  Further, I requested that answers to the following questions be brought forward to senate:

1. What is the make up of the committee that will set this fee?

2. What will the ratio of student representation be on this committee?

3. What other fees does this committee set?

4. How many students were charged $35?

5. Since the bylaw was noticed have students since been charged the appropriate $20?

6. Can students who were wrongfully charged $35 be refunded the $15?

7. What is the rationale for changing the fee according to the working group?

8. Does unsuccessful appeal money go to a bursary/scholarship fund?

9. What is the process for appeal fees at comparable institutions?

In the end, the motion failed (meaning that the fee will remain $20).  And those students who were wrongfully charged $35 and had unsuccessful appeals will be credited $15 to their accounts!

Later in the evening I chaired a board of directors meeting at which many funding requests were vetted and the WUFA emergency fund framework was approved.  It should also be noted that money was set aside from the WUFA donation to be used for appeals this semester (please speak with Mohsin Khan vpuauwsa@uwindsor.ca to seek information for access to appeal money).

The next challenge we will face is actually implementing the Emergency Strike Fund distribution framework.  I'll keep you updated.

-Gooch