URSU president says the Hyundai Santa Fe has many legitimate uses
It hasn’t been that many days since the Carillon published its first article on the mysterious University of Regina Students’ Union car, and here we are with another one.
Why the sequel, you ask?
The Carillon had reached out to URSU president Hamza Rehan before the previous article was published but no time for an interview could be scheduled.
We never did get that in-person interview, but Rehan recently responded to our questions via email and out of fairness, we wanted to give URSU a fair shake.
On to our first burning question: Why does URSU need a car, anyway?
Rehan gave several reasons and said the car – a 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe purchased in 2022 – has had many uses.
Does URSU still need a car?
Rehan also confirmed that the white Hyundai SUV the Carillon found and photographed in a campus parking lot was the real deal.
As was discussed in the previous article, most of the students we spoke with expressed skepticism about why an official students’ union car was needed.
Some stated URSU should be telling their stakeholders about what they purchase.
Rehan stated that the press release for the car can be found on the URSU website and on their social media accounts.
I will say that we called on URSU to provide context for the students and they have attempted to do just that. This is certainly different from previous times, where requests fell on deaf ears.
Uses of the car
“The vehicle is used exclusively for URSU-related organizational work, such as transporting supplies for the URSU Cares Pantry, setting up and delivering materials for events and student engagement activities, inter-campus movement for official duties, and operational errands,” according to Rehan.
“Organizational work is defined as activities carried out by URSU executives or staff in line with our mandate to support and represent students,” he said.
In addition to the uses noted above, the Santa Fe is also used for “campaign-related mobilization.”
“Its usage is frequent but always tied to URSU’s operational calendar,” Rehan said.
Confusion regarding the car
Rehan also touched on how rumours such as the car being missing or in another province got started.
“We believe these rumours likely stem from the fact that the University of Regina has revoked all URSU parking spaces, including our underground stall. As a result, the vehicle is no longer parked in its usual location and may not be visible on campus,” Rehan said.
Did the university really take away URSU parking? If that was the case, why did they do that? It is intriguing, but the fact is the car is still in one of the campus parking areas.
After the previous article called on them to be more transparent and open, Rehan stated that “we understand how this might have led to confusion or assumptions. That said, the vehicle has remained in service and in use throughout. We are currently exploring nearby alternatives for parking and are in discussions to restore our on-campus parking access.”
Its [the car] usage is frequent but always tied to URSU’s operational calendar. -Hamza Rehan, URSU President.
Our conclusions
We think that he did his best to define organizational work, as this term has been used by URSU in the past. It is, however, still a little uncertain as to what wouldn’t necessarily constitute organizational work.
As for rumours about their being a second car, we do not have any evidence to support this claim and when asked, Rehan said, “No, this is the only vehicle operated and maintained by URSU for organizational purposes.”
It is now up to the students to decide on whether they think these are good reasons for URSU to have a car.
We appreciate being able to share both the students’ side and URSU’s side to this story.
