Successful Students

On Saturday April 4, 2009 I attended the 8th Annual School of Business Celebration of Achievement ceremony.

The event was hosted in the beautiful Great Hall in the University Club and was hosted by the new Director of the School of Business - Peggy Cunningham. There were a variety of awards given out both to students (athletics, commerce, management, and MBA) and faculty members. 

Over 400 students were given recognition for their success through scholarships and awards. There were also 6 awards given to professors, one of which recognized the DSU Teaching Excellence Award given to Professor Jim Power (one of my professors).

The event was marvelous! I enjoyed meeting with students who won awards and the guests (parents, friends, and teachers) that they brought with them to celebrate their successes.

DSU AGM - Part II

On Wednesday April 1, 2009 approximately 650 Dalhousie students came together in the McInnes room in the Student Union Building to take part in the DSU's Annual General Meeting - Part II (a continuation of the meeting on March 18th).

The meeting started with three of the five Executive reports which were not addressed at the earlier meeting. All of the reports were wonderful and I would like to give a special mention to our Vice President (Education) who gave an informative presentation to all students present about the Halifax Student Alliance, the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations, and the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.

After the Executive reports were completed we moved to the first item of business - the NSPIRG motion. The motion came forward from Daniel Pink and the key aspects of the resolutions were to have the DSU remove NSPIRG from their office space on the third floor of the SUB within 90 days, the DSU cease processing payroll for NSPIRG, and for NSPIRG to be sent to referendum in the 2009-10 academic year for all Dalhousie students to decide if NSPIRG should be a levied society. This motion was eventually amended to no longer have any whereas clauses and to only have one resolution which would have NSPIRG being sent back to referendum in 2009-10.

After 45 minutes of discussion on the issue (debate was limited to 45 minutes at 8:36 and therefore at 9:16 we had to conclude discussion) the question was called (we needed to move to vote on the issue). The voting started as a hand vote which the Chair felt was too close to call and so a ballot vote was moved. The ballot vote process was lengthy and this was due to the sheer number of students present (this was the first time that the DSU had seen this many students at an AGM) and that not all students present in the meeting were DSU members with voting privileges. The room was set to close at 10:45pm; however at 10:30pm it was quite evident that there were still lots of students to vote and that we would need to extend hours. Through discussing our options with our staff we agreed to extend the room hours until the voting process had been completed, ballots counted, and the results announced. At approximately 11:30pm the voting process was completed and the Chair announced the results. The motion failed.

At this point in the evening the meeting was adjourned. There were a variety of other motions and By-law/Regulation amendments on our agenda which were not seen to. Another general meeting is not being planned for my term as President; however, I am quite confident that the incoming President, Shannon Zimmerman, will be calling a General Meeting within the next few months to address the unseen to items.

For the agenda and prepared meeting documents please click here.

DSU AGM Update

A Note on the Annual General Meeting:

At last night’s Judicial Board meeting, a decision was made to allow ALL students attending a class or classes at Dalhousie University to attend and have speaking rights at tomorrow evening’s DSU Annual General Meeting. This applies, but is not limited to, University of King’s College students currently enrolled in Dalhousie classes. All students enrolled in Dalhousie classes, but who do not have valid Dalhousie IDs, must provide proof of registration. Acceptable proof of registration will include a class syllabus and proof that the student is in the class, or a printoff of a class schedule. This decision, however, does not give these students the right to vote at the AGM.

The AGM will be held at the McInnes Room of the Dalhousie Student Union Building. Upon arrival, attendees will receive direction as to where to go. Students with valid Dalhousie IDs will check-in at the main door of the McInnes Room. Due to capacity concerns, Dalhousie students with voting rights will be the first to enter the room, followed by non-voting students. Attendance for students without Dalhousie IDs will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, and  will be limited based on the capacity of the room.

A live audio-feed will be streamed in Room 224 for community members and interested parties not registered for classes at Dalhousie.

Media should register with the DSU Communications Coordinator (meghann.bryans@dal.ca) no later than the morning of the event. Media will be escorted to a designated section at the back of the room once the majority of attendees are seated. In order to protect the privacy of voting members, no video cameras will be allowed.

For more information please visit: www.dsu.ca

Your Issues Brought Forward

The second part of the DSU's Annual General Meeting is scheduled to take place this Wednesday April 1st at 6:30pm in the McInnes Room of the Student Union Building. At the AGM that took place on March 11th we had over 200 students attend and through debate, questions, and voting we were only able to achieve the approval of the agenda and have 2 of 5 DSU Executive year-to-date reports presented. At the upcoming meeting we will be discussing and voting on proposed by-law and regulation amendments, motions from students, and the other 3 of 5 DSU Executive year-to-date reports.

The agenda, by-law and regulation amendments, along with the motions can be found here on the DSU website.

There is one motion that I would like to provide the Dalhousie community with more information around ('CASA Motion') and that is the DSU's active involvement and success in advocating for more affordable and accessible post secondary education in Nova Scotia and throughout Canada.

Last week I was away from the office at a conference for the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations which included lobbying government officials from all national political parties, and meetings with the leaders of all those parties. Tuition does tend to be the topic that most students want to see addressed and CASA works on that issue, additionally we also work on costs such as academic materials, copy right laws which could prevent access to information for students, grant programs, tri-council funding, and the repayment assistant program (and those are just some of the items on this year's agenda - we have worked and seen success on many more over the past 14 years). CASA as an organization, and the DSU as a member organization, are working to ensure that post secondary education in Canada is more accessible and affordable for students. We want to ensure there is a high level of quality and we believe that through making partnerships and strong policies and effective meetings we can achieve that. Overall the conference was a wonderful success and I believe that students at Canadian post secondary institutions will see positive changes in their experiences due to the efforts put forward by student leaders across Canada over the past week. And in addition to the lobby meetings in Ottawa this past week, student leaders from across the country do satellite lobbying in their home provinces to Members of Parliament and government officials to push for a better and stronger post secondary education system in Canada.

In addition to the great work and successes which CASA has been involved in the DSU is a proud member of the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations. ANSSA currently has 5 member universities throughout Nova Scotia and has had phenomenal success since its conception. The most recent success was the development of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Province of Nova Scotia and the Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents. The MOU has a stated tuition freeze for 3 years (2 left after this year). Additionally the Province has allocated more money to grants for Nova Scotia students which are applied automatically to their tuition levels in an effort to bring Nova Scotia's tuition levels down to just over $1000 above the national average. This is a great step in working towards more affordable post secondary education in Nova Scotia. We know that we still have high tuition and are committed to working with the government of Nova Scotia to find methods to make education more accessible and affordable.

On top of addressing the costs and accessibility of post secondary education the DSU is also a founding member of the Halifax Student Alliance which advocates on key student issues such as transportation, housing and safety. We are also working to increase student representation on both Senate and Board of Governors committees to ensure students have an effective voice for making decisions to make Dalhousie a better place for all current and future students.

I wanted to make this post to provide Dalhousie students with supplement information regarding the DSU's past and current role in advocating for their students at all levels of government and to the University.

I openly welcome questions from the Dalhousie community on the DSU's efforts and our affiliated organizations regarding the CASA motion - and all other motions as well. As students we come to university to further educate ourselves, it is my hope that all Dalhousie students will follow this course of action and become informed and involved.