Back in the Swing of Things

It has been awhile since my last blog post and I do want to apologize for that.

Here is what has been going on in the past 2 weeks at the DSU:

1. University and Student Union Presidents Meeting

On January 22nd the Council of Nova Scotia University President (CONSUP), Student Union/Association Presidents, and representatives from both the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA) and the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) met. The purpose of the meeting with the touch base and to discuss the issues that both groups are looking to advocate to the provincial government on to include in their budget. The meeting was informative for everyone in attendance because it allowed us all to gain an understanding of the direction each group would like to take.

2. Presidential Review

As many of you will know the Dalhousie University President, Dr. Tom Traves, is seeking to extend his current 3 year term by 3 years. I am a member of the Presidential Review Committee and we have been meeting over the past few months. The deadline for submitting feedback on your view on Tom's reappointment is now closed. The committee will be putting forth a submission to the Board of Governors on the extension of the term at an upcoming meeting.

3. DSU Winter Carnival

The DSU hosted its annual Winter Carnival from Jan 21-24. The entire carnival was a great success with very talented Dalhousie students raising money for Shinerama through an open mic event, the always wonderful Sue Johanson gave a presentation as part of the DSU's Speaker Series, and as always Charity Ball was fabulous and our auction raised over $2000 for this year's selected charity.

4. Constitutional Review Committee

An ad-hoc committee of council was formed several months ago and the members on the committee, I am one of them, are working to revise the by-laws and regulations of the DSU Constitution. We are still seeking feedback on all areas of the constitution - if you have suggestions please email dsupres@dal.ca. The proposed changes will be available to the student body on February 18th and then on March 4th the DSU student body will be able to vote on the proposed changes - please note we need at least 75 union members to host the meeting.

5. ANSSA Student Assembly

This past weekend the members schools of ANSSA went to Cape Breton University for the winter 2009 student assembly. The student assembly meets twice a year with ideally 5 student delegates (which are not ANSSA board members) to discuss policies and set direction for the organization. The conference this weekend looked issues surrounding infrastructure, our pre-budget submission to the NS government, and our strategic plan. Overall the conference was a great success!

Those were the 5 large items that have been on my radar in the past 2 weeks. I have also had lots of meetings with members of senior administration, DSU councilors, executive and staff around day-to-day items and student concerns.