U of C Code of Conduct, CSA membership key topics at Oct. 9 SLC
By Ashar Memon, October 10 2018 —
Changes to the University of Calgary’s Code of Conduct were up for discussion at the Oct. 9 meeting of the Students’ Legislative Council. A passed resolution also brought the Students’ Union one step closer to joining a municipal advocacy group.
The evening began with announcements by SU executives. Vice-president student life Nabila Farid told SLC that the next session of the SU’s stress-management workshop, Stress Buster, will be on Oct. 16. President Sagar Grewal said that the application deadline for the Presidents’ Consultative Task Force has been extended to Oct. 14.
U of C general counsel Karen Jackson spoke briefly about revisions to the university’s Code of Conduct, which were brought forward by amendments to the provincial Conflict of Interest Act passed in December 2017.
Jackson said that the provision that will affect students most is that any student who works for the U of C and wants to take another job, whether at the university or not, must get approval from their manager before doing so.
During executive reports, Grewal said that he attended a luncheon at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and hosted the SU vice-president external byelection forum. Vice-president academic Jessica Revington reported attending a meeting of the U of C’s Copyright Committee.
Farid reported meeting with U of C sexual violence support advocate Carla Bertsch and purchasing more period products for the SU’s free period product program with vice-president operations and finance Kevin Dang.
During club committee reports, Farid said that the Clubs Committee approved three last-minute event funding requests, totaling $410.
SLC then discussed a resolution to join the newly formed Calgary Student Alliance (CSA), a combined body of local post-secondary students’ unions and associations focused on municipal advocacy.
Several SLC members questioned the merits of joining the organization. Arts representative Quinn Stevenson, expressing concerns from a student he spoke to, said that the SU has the most to offer the alliance and joining it could risk quality of life for U of C students.
Medicine representative Jarin Thundathil asked Grewal if he was concerned about student associations with fewer members than the SU having the same proportion of votes in the CSA.
In response to concerns from SLC, Grewal said, “If we’re not at the table, we don’t have any say on what other schools should be advocating for and that also means that other students’ unions or associations could advocate on just about anything which might contradict us.
“If 65,000 students are represented by this group and they have a certain ask, and we have 25,000 [students], and counsellors can only fulfil one, I think we actually lose in that scenario, because we’re not at the table and, therefore, they beat us at representation,” he added.
The first reading for joining the CSA passed unanimously. The second reading of the resolution — which will decide whether the SU becomes a member of the CSA — will be held next week.
The evening concluded with Revington giving a brief run-down of the agenda for an upcoming General Faculties Council meeting.
The next meeting of SLC will be on Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the MacHall Executive Council Chambers. Access elected official reports, trimester reports, minutes and all other SLC documents here.