UofR students are being asked to give their seal of approval to the group that hopes to replace the now-defunct University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU).
The new organization called the “University of Regina Students’ Association” (URSA) held a town hall on December 4, whereby they pledged to hold a referendum asking that students vote in favour of (URSA) so that the people in charge can work on building a better institution for everyone. The five members of the interim executive team in collaboration with some students have already written a constitution and have a stated that ‘transparency’ is the association’s number one priority.
With the aftereffects of the former student’s union (URSU) still lingering, questions have been raised over what will happen next as the university currently has control over all student affairs. Over the last couple of months, a group of students have been meeting to construct a new union from scratch. After months of lengthy discussions and coordination with the university administration, the university has presented a referendum to the student body which lets them decide if they want URSA as their new representative body. This referendum will run from Dec. 12-15 giving students plenty of time to vote in favour or against the replacement of URSU with URSA. The voting will be held online via UR Self-Service to ensure that each student member is able to vote.
Matthew McStravick, a fourth-year political science student and the interim president of URSA, said they want to ensure that everyone is represented on campus. “URSA is meant to be a constellation, and every group in that constellation is meant to be a star that shines, and we need to make that happen,” said McStravick at the town hall. The five interim executive members of the newly formed association said they are hoping to help connect students by breaking down any divisions or barriers they have faced or may be facing currently.
Although properly representing students is the key to URSA’s success, many students asked how they planned to deal with finances given the former students’ union’s issues with the monetary operations. Matthew Reiman, who is the interim VP of finance, said his various leadership positions have helped in preparing him to take on a responsibility of this magnitude. “My role here is to preach financial responsibility and equal opportunities for all student groups and organizations on campus,” said Reiman.
The five members who spoke and have spearheaded the creation of this new association are all in their final years of studies, which has raised the question of who will take over the new union once they graduate and what that will look like. McStravick said there will be an election and in-depth background checks on everyone who is seeking a position within the association. One student who worked on writing the constitution said the background checks are going to be vitally important given the rumours that URSU members elected their friends and roommates. This step in the process is to ensure there are no potential conflicts of interest.
The interim members engaged in a Q&A with students for an hour, whereby they had an opportunity to ask questions they thought were important to have answered. Some questions asked by the students were “what will the election process look like?”, “How will the elected members deal with conflicts of interest?”, and “why is there no Indigenous representation amongst the new leadership?”.
In response to the question about Indigenous representation, they said that URSA will have a seat open for any First Nations University student, as well as a seat available for students who attend either Luther or Campion College. It was stated many times throughout the meeting that URSA’s main objective is to represent every student from all walks of life and cultures. This extends to having a diverse set of voices and ideas in elected positions.
With the proposed referendum presented to the students, the Carillon further asked what sets up the new association apart from not just URSU, but other student-led organizations.
I came here tonight feeling pretty skeptical but am leaving feeling very confident with what [URSA] is looking to achieve.”- Dalyn Chuckry, student, UofR
“We learned a lot from the University of Ottawa’s example because they faced a situation where the students’ union was dissolved,” said Ben Alexander, the interim vice-president of external affairs. Alexander said URSA looked at a research study conducted by University of Toronto’s Dr. Justin Patrick which focuses on students’ unions. “We’re looking at the different policies that are in place and learning and looking at how other universities are conducting themselves,” said Alexander.
With the referendum now presented to the student body, many students left feeling satisfied with what they heard. One student even said the meeting changed his viewpoint on having a new student-run organization. “I came here tonight feeling pretty skeptical but am leaving feeling very confident with what they [URSA] is looking to achieve,” said Dalyn Chuckry, a third-year journalism student.
Interim executive team of URSA said it’s not looking to just replace URSU but to completely overhaul the way things had been done in the past. At its core, URSA stated it is focused on transparency, representation, rebuilding trust, and working to make the university a better place for every student.
