Since the summer, your UASU Executives have been busy making changes to improve your campus experience, and advocating for you to the U of A, the City of Edmonton, and the Government of Alberta ahead of the 2022-23 school year. Your Execs continue to build on what's already in the works, but we've rounded up the details on some of the big wins that have already been accomplished.
 

New SUB Furniture and Daily Grind Re-Open 
Working on this: VP Operations & Finance Julia Villoso

• New furniture in SUB. The old furniture was recycled by going to clubs instead of the landfill. The furniture was also chosen with environmental sustainability and student comfort in mind. 

• New art has been put up in the SUB Living Room (on the main floor)

• Daily Grind has been renovated to help serve you better.

Campus Foodbank Services Expansion
Working on this: VP Student Life Joannie Fogue

• As inflation rises, we’ve seen 3x the amount of students using the Campus Food Bank (CFB) and are working to support your needs.

• CFB is extending in-person service to Campus Saint-Jean starting in Oct 2022. See campusfoodbank.com for more info. 
   

ISA Office 
Working on this: VPOF Julia

Secured an office space for ISA. International students now have a central place to meet with their SRA on the third floor of the Students’ Union Building. 
 

Residential School Memorial
Working on this: VPOF Julia, VPSL Joannie

• You may have seen the flags in the Main Quad. We worked with the Indigenous Students’ Union to host the second annual Residential School Memorial on September 26, 2022. 

• The memorial for the Indigenous children lost to Residential Schools held space for a week near the Sweetgrass Bear.

Transit Built for Us
Working on this: VP External Christian Fotang

• We spoke to Edmonton City Council on the importance of improved regional transit options for students from surrounding municipalities and those with early morning or late night classes and commitments.

• City Council voted in favour of the first phase for the proposed Edmonton Metropolian Transit Service Commission (EMTSC) plan to better connect St. Albert, Beaumont, Camrose and others in the region.

Gender-Based Violence Prevention
Working on this: VPSL Joannie

• The University committed to providing more comprehensive and detailed sexual violence response training to all residence assistants after years of student pressure. 

• We are now in the phase of providing more consent and awareness training to those who live in residence. Your UASU worked with Residence and the Sexual Assault Centre (SAC) to accomplish this and includes: RA Training, e-class content for residents, and inclusion of an SV component in Joint Executive Training.

Experiential Learning
Working on this: President Abner Monteiro, VP Academic Gurleen Kaur

• Work to improve the student experience while in co-op programs is still underway! Updates to come.

• We have paired with the Undergraduate Research Initiative to create more key research opportunities for students and break down barriers faced by International students.

• We have secured University commitments to make Embedded Certificates more accessible to students. Many students don’t know they can pursue bonus certificates just by taking certain classes as part of their degree.

StudentCare
Working on this: VPOF Julia, VPSL Joannie

We changed insurance companies for the health and dental plan to Green Shield Canada to save students money. This will save students more than $2M over the next two years!  There will be no change in the benefits, so you'll just get the same great plan for less!

CASA/CAUS Updates
Working on this: President Abner, VPX Christian

• Our partners at the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) celebrated the expansion of Federal financial aid for disabled students after years of student advocacy. These additional changes to the definition of persistent and prolonged disabilities will now allow supports for over 40,000 students with disabilities in Canada.

• We worked alongside our Provinvial and Federal counterparts to determine our policy priorities which we shall direct our collective advocacy efforts to the Federal and Provincial Governments. 

Academic Integrity Policy Updates
Working on this: VPA Gurleen

• The University is renewing the Code of Student Conduct and reworking it from the ground up to match the current needs of students on campus.

• We are supporting consultation with Faculties and students on campus about the proposed new Academic Integrity Model to make sure student rights and accessibility are the focus of the new policy.

Advocacy in Media
Working on this: President Abner, VPX Christian

President Monteiro and VPX Fotang have been hard at work highlighting how students are facing housing affordability issues and a rising cost of living due to inflation

Textbook Affordability
Working on this: VPA Gurleen

• We are working on a faculty-specific strategy to help expand the use of Open Education tools for the Winter semester!

• The Zero Textbook Cost Indicator program saved students $9 Million last year, and we want the program to continue to grow and save students even more.

Break the Record

On September 23, we hosted an attempt at breaking the World Record for the Largest Dodgeball Game. We had 4,967 students, staff, alumni and community members come to Varsity Field to participate. This is a huge win for our campus community and revitalizing student life on campus. 
 

Dewey’s Menu
Working on this: President Abner, VPOF Julia

New Dewey’s food menu items added to improve your experience. Be sure to stop by and give it all a taste.