Remembrance Day

Today approximately 4500 (my guesstimate) people gathered at Grand Parade Square in downtown Halifax for the annual Remembrance Day ceremony.

Among the 4500 guests there were students from several local universities, members of the DSU executive, council and societies.

The DSU executive was proud to have a wreath placed at the ceremony today, in honor of those who have served and in memory of those who have fallen.

(The picture on the right of this article was near the end of the ceremony once all of the wreaths had been laid. The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia is the lady standing in front of the monument)

40th Anniversary of the SUB

Yesterday the DSU was proud to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the grand opening of the Dalhousie Student Union Building.

The preparations for the event were done through our Vice President (Student Life), Kris Osmond, and his 

events committee. They began decorating the SUB on Thursday night.

Friday at 12 noon the celebrations kicked off in the SUB lobby with a giant birthday card and hat, cake, loot bags, music, free pens and programs, and pictures from the past 40 years. I was honored to give remarks to kick off the event. There was approximately 250 people in the SUB lobby for the event.

Last night was the Grawood party where students, staff, faculty, and alumni came out to do an official countdown to midnight (the official opening of the building took place on November 8, 1968). The Grawood was full of students happy to be celebrating the wonderful event.

It has taken 96 years to get to where we are with 56 of those years dedicated to the student union advocating for having their own building on campus and the building taking place.

There have been millions of people walk through the doors of the SUB and many high profile people as well such as Jean Chretien, K-OS, the Princess of Ghana, Bryan Adams, Sarah McLaughin, and Sue Johanson.

The DSU is very proud that we are able to have our own building on campus and are continually working towards providing services and spaces in the building that help to enhance our students' experience.

Nov 5 DSU Council Meeting

Last night was one of the biweekly council meetings.

There was a lot of items on the agenda and for the first time in awhile we were able to get through all of them (with extending the meeting another hour - which made it run from 6:30 pm - 10:30 pm).

At the beginning of our meeting we had presentations from 3 different groups: Campus Master Plan, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, and the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations.

The Campus Master Plan presentation was an introduction to the project manager, Larry Sherman, and to get councilors the opportunity to give feedback. This gained interest from council and I will be working to set up another opportunity for councilors to meet with Larry to discuss ideas for the future of the campus.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations presentation was a brief overview of what CASA does, how it was created, their successes, and what they are looking to work on for students this year. Both the National Director, Zach Churchill, and the Members Relations Officer, Dan Murphy, attended our council meeting.

The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations presentation was also brief and it covered what ANSSA does, what the priorities are for this year, the structure of the organization (board members, student assembly, executive director), and the successes that ANSSA has seen in the past year. Our Executive Director, Kelly Wilson, attended the council meeting and gave the presentation to our council.

Other than the presentations to council there were several large topics that were dealt with. The Board of Operations recommendation that the Recruitment Committee Handbook be worked on by the Recruitment Committee passed. The society policy amendments for the NSPIRG section passed. And the audited financial statements were passed.

There were three notices of motion for the next meeting on November 19th: (1) academic policies, (2) revised DSU budget, and (3) election timeline.

The next DSU council meeting will be held at 6:30 pm on Wednesday November 19th, 2008 in Council Chambers (2nd floor of the SUB).

Courtesy Umbrellas

Many of you may have seen the recent addition of 'courtesy umbrellas' in the lobby of the Student Union Building.

This is a joint initiative between the Dalhousie Student Union and the Real Life Community Church. There is a basket of courtesy umbrellas by the front doors of the SUB and other locations across campus a well. On days when it is raining outside the Dalhousie community can use the umbrellas to get from one building to another without getting wet. When they get to where they are going they can just place the umbrella in the basket at that location.

This is a small initiative but I have only heard positive feedback about this project and am happy to be able to work with outside groups to make the university experience more positive even if it is through small things such as umbrellas.