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.