UNews - VP academic

New ULSU executive council has big plans

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:50:17 +0000

The time of year has come when the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union (ULSU) has to say goodbye to the executive council members they've worked with all year and welcome a new group of council members.

This year marks a significant change for the ULSU because of a new executive council structure that has been developed that includes a vice-president external position. This new position will play an active role in advocating to all levels of government, one that until now was spread out among all the executives.

Despite the challenges the ULSU will face adjusting to this new structure and lobbying the government regarding the recent post-secondary education budget cuts, the ULSU is lucky to have such qualified and compassionate executive council members for this term.

The new ULSU executive council (L to R) Shuna Talbot, Sean Glydon, Adam Long, Michael Kawchuk and Katie Kalmar.

The new president of the Students' Union, Shuna Talbot, was previously the VP of internal affairs and is very familiar with the importance of her new role. Talbot's platform for presidency revolves around the three pillars of the ULSU, advocacy, representation and service. More specifically, her plans as president include establishing a multi-faith prayer space on campus and strengthening the ULSU's relationship with the Lethbridge College Students' Association.

Taking over Talbot's role as VP internal affairs is Adam Long, whose position has become the VP of student affairs. Over the last four years, Long has been actively involved in planning and organizing a number of events on campus, including Fresh Fest, and has also been president of the Board and Ski Club for the last two years. His goals for his term in office are to organize a club fair to take place during the middle of the first semester and to create more of a community between clubs so that they can collaborate on future endeavours.

The new VP external position is held by Sean Glydon, who has most recently been the founder and president of the Environmental Science Club, as well as an arts and science representative. Glydon's main responsibilities in this new role will be representing the ULSU at both the lobby organizations CASA (Canadian Alliance of Student Associations) and CAUS (Council of Alberta ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Students). During his term, Glydon expects to complete the ULSU external policies, achieve regulation of non-mandatory instructional fees and realize the removal of residence property taxes.

Former arts and science representative, Katie Kalmar, has become the new VP academic, a position she has been training for under the previous VP academic, Julia Adolf, acting as the student commissioner for the last year. The VP academic sits on a number of different ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ committees and is responsible for representing students in all aspects of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community. Kalmar plans to increase the number of academic events available to students by partnering with ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ departments such as counselling services, the library and the writing centre to develop more diverse academic workshops.

Last but not least is the new VP operations and finance, Michael Kawchuk. Last year, Kawchuk sat on the ULSU's general assembly as the management representative. As a finance major, he wants to address some of the cost issues that are not deemed 'value added' costs for students and reduce these. He also wants to make the ULSU's finances more clear for the other executives and to work on finding areas where the ULSU can save money.

The ULSU is looking forward to working with all the new executive council members and is excited for the events they will organize for students, as well as the advocacy issues they will address during their terms.

This story first appeared in the May 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Students earn greater voting flexibility

trevor.kenney — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:46:55 +0000

Voting in provincial elections has become a little easier for students who attend a post-secondary institution located outside their permanent place of residence.

Bill 7, or the Election Accountability Amendment Act, had its third and final reading in the Alberta Legislature recently. The bill includes several changes in how Alberta's elections are carried out and allows for post-secondary students to cast their ballots in the riding they attend school or in their home riding.

"This is going to make voting much easier for students in the next election," says Armin Escher, president of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union. "The Elections Act is going to be amended as per our recommendation to the government and I hope we see even more students turn out to vote in the next election as a result."

Escher adds that the change is a huge accomplishment for the Council of Alberta ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Students (CAUS), a provincial lobby group compromised of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta Students' Unions, who has been lobbying the government since 2008, to make it a little easier for students to vote in this province.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union, members of CAUS, hopes to see an increase in voter turnout in the next provincial election, particularly among students.

"This past May we saw a lot of students being turned away at the polls because they were not able to vote due to the fact that their home riding was not Lethbridge," says Julia Adolf, VP academic, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union.

"The changes to the election act will give our students' the ability to vote in Lethbridge."

This is not the only issue the bill addresses; it also changes provisions on campaign finance and new changes to municipal elections.

The bill was originally based on recommendations put forth by the Chief Electoral Officer, however, the recommendations that CAUS made were accepted.

Many parts of this bill have been met with controversy but the portion pertaining to student voting has been met agreement by all parties in the legislature.

Operation Red Nose campaign begins

trevor.kenney — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:23:16 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's annual Operation Red Nose campaign begins Friday, Nov. 26, the first of five weekends and 12 total nights the popular designated driving program will operate in the city.

This is the 16th year that the U of L has offered the program and in that time, more than $380,000 has been raised in support of Horns Athletics. More importantly, countless lives have been saved because thousands of drunk drivers have not been behind the wheels of their vehicles.

The Lethbridge Regional Police Service, the U of L Students' Union, Horns Athletics, the Insurance Bureau of Canada and the City of Lethbridge are all in staunch support of the program. Keith McLaughlin, the VP Academic of the Students' Union says the annual campaign is vitally important to students, teaching them positive attitudes towards the use of designated drivers. Essentially, he says, it's key to drive the message home when drivers are young and they're more apt to be smart about drunk driving the rest of their lives.

"We believe the educational awareness component of Operation Red Nose is the most beneficial aspect of the campaign," says McLaughlin. "As a society we can enact tougher and tougher legislation but drunk driving, I don't think, can be eradicated by legislation itself. I think we need to change our societal attitudes about this type of behaviour and we do that through education and awareness."

Red Nose is a designated driving program whereby a team of volunteers (60 to 70 per cent of which are U of L students, mainly Horns athletes) brings a vehicle to your locale. They drive your vehicle home and you and your party get to ride along. There's no charge for the service but donations to Pronghorns Athletics are accepted.

Operation Red Nose begins the weekend of Nov. 26-27 and continues through the Christmas season, including: Dec. 2-4; Dec. 9-11; Dec. 16-18 and Dec. 31. To call for a ride, dial 403-320-4155. Those interested in volunteering can call 403-329-2681 for more information.

ULSU elections in the books

trevor.kenney — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:40:26 +0000

The battle for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union president may have been a one-horse race but it didn't stop voters from casting ballots in the 2009-2010 ULSU executive council and general assembly election last week.

Over 21 per cent of students cast their votes in the election as a variety of roles were filled. Jeremy Girard ran unopposed as ULSU president and will take over office in May. He's excited about the upcoming challenge.

"I'm proud to serve as president in the upcoming year," says Girard. "The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has a lot to offer to the community, and the Students' Union has a lot to offer to students."

Girard takes over from outgoing ULSU President, Adam Vossepoel.

"I'm confident the incoming executive team will lead the ULSU down the right path," says Vossepoel. "The organization and the interests of students are in very capable hands, and I leave my presidency with no apprehension about the future of the ULSU."

Following are the results from the 2009-2010 ULSU election.

2009‐2010 ULSU Executive Council: Jeremy Girard, President; Allan Hall, VP Administration; Alex Masse, VP Academic and Cole Lehto, VP Internal.

2009‐2010 ULSU General Assembly: Justine Foy, arts and science representative; Zack Moline, arts and science representative; Eric Hawthorne, arts and science representative; Willis Norrie, arts and science representative; Alecia Fraser, arts and science representative; Cayley Rauw, arts and science representative; Tyler Stewart, fine arts representative; Tyrell DaSilva, management representative; Michael Persinger, organization of residence students representative; Fwanyanga Mate, international representative; Melanie Sam, First Nations, Inuit Métis representative; Jenn Prosser, board of governors representative.

The newly‐elected council members assume their roles May 1, 2009 and remain in office through to Apr. 30, 2010.

UNews - VP academic

New ULSU executive council has big plans

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Students earn greater voting flexibility

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Operation Red Nose campaign begins

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ULSU elections in the books

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