Students weigh in on what they want from a new student body
Students’ union’s collapse recap
The University of Regina’s Students’ Union (URSU) came under attention during the previous academic year after it defunded certain organisations on campus like the Women’s centre and UR Pride stating compliance issues. Later, URSU members were reported to have disrupted the university’s Women Centre’s annual general meeting which caused a great amount of displeasure and discontent amongst the students.
As tensions mounted, the drift between the union and the students widened. Gradually, the complaints of lack of transparency and accountability from the students led to the university’s involvement in the issue causing the eventual defunding of the union and the termination of lease agreement between URSU and the UofR. Last month, the university evicted URSU members from their offices in addition to terminating the lease agreement.
Mackenna Hadaway, a final year psychology student felt betrayed by the URSU for wasting students’ money. “A lot of us already struggle financially to go to university,” she shared.
After all the turmoil between the university and URSU, the university is currently in the absence of an active student body.
With no official body to represent the students in place, there are questions that are troubling the students. The big ones are- should a new students’ union be formed and what should be done to prevent history repeating itself?
Certain services are covered by U of R but do students trust the management?
“Core services”, as stated by the university admin, including the medical plan and UR pass are to be funded and managed by the university for the time being. Students however, are not in favor of being without a students’ union to advocate for their needs.
Jordan Mcgillicky, a psychology major said, “I do not trust the university’s management entirely.”
Mcgillicky thinks that authoritarians responsible for looking after the current students’ needs might not understand them appropriately due to generational gap, as students now have different expectations.
Leo Boutin, a first-year Industrial Engineering student emphasized that the physical presence of a student body is vital for better representing diverse university students.
Giving voices to various groups is of utmost importance as the University of Regina has a remarkably diverse set of students, which includes international students, Indigenous students, and mature students from diverse cultural, ethnic, religious, and gender backgrounds. – Arufha Malek
Actions to prevent history from repeating itself
According to students, various steps can be taken to maintain transparency when a new students’ body is formed.
Hadaway said, “A new students union should be formed […]. but they should work with the university on budgeting.”
Suggestions about timely check-ins where financial audits are performed under the supervision of the university personnel were also made to maintain the union’s integrity.
Many students also said that they should also be allowed to investigate these audits to maintain transparency between the students and the new union.
Boutin thinks an increase in communications between the students and the union would help build the trust.
“There should be more newsletters or maybe make a podcast to explain what is happening in the office,” he said.
Mcgillicky believes in a democratic system while choosing new student leaders. She says that “Whoever comes into a position of power should be put there by the students […] a rigorous screening process should be done for potential leaders.”
How can diversity be well represented?
Giving voices to various groups is of utmost importance as the University of Regina has a remarkably diverse set of students, which includes international students, Indigenous students, and mature students from diverse cultural, ethnic, religious, and gender backgrounds.
Boutin thinks task forces with diverse groups should be formed.
He said, “I think there should be a voice from every group. That way we can understand everyone’s situations.”
Hadaway agreed and added, “I would like to see more women involved in the new students’ union.”
What should the new student body be named?
Students also shared their views on naming the new student body.
Many were fans of the old acronym while some suggested something that feels less corporate. Few also mentioned building a body from ground up and starting fresh with a simple name can help move on from past mistakes.
Hadaway said, “I would probably keep the students’ union[…]but maybe throw in a cougar mascot or the Rams mascot to make it fun and homy.”
There might be a debate over the name for a new student body, but students agree that formation of one is important to amplify the student’s voices and concerns.
