I am grateful for all I have learned here at the University of Alberta and the Students’ Union. As we approach the end of another incredible year, I find myself thinking back on the journey we’ve shared and the milestones we’ve achieved together.  

It’s hard to believe how quickly the year has passed. As your Students’ Union President, it has been my honour to represent such a vibrant and diverse community. This year has been marked by challenges and triumphs, each shaping our university experience in profound ways. From the exhilarating moments of academic success to the bonds created in student organizations, we’ve all contributed to the rich tapestry of campus life.  

Your passion, resilience and commitment to making the University of Alberta a better place have continually inspired me.  

As we look back on the memories we’ve created—the late-night study sessions, Karaoke and Trivia nights at Dewey's, spirited debates and unforgettable events—let’s also embrace the lessons learned along the way. Every hurdle we faced was an opportunity for growth, and each success, no matter how small, has brought us closer as a community. To my fellow students, thank you for your support, your ideas, and your drive to advocate for change. You are the heart of this institution, and your voices have made a difference, even if it was just by answering a Perks survey to get a free coffee. To my fellow student executives, I hope you feel a surge of pride as you look back at the year and what we have accomplished. 

Thank you for trusting our team to work for you.  Each of you benefited from the work we have done in some way, and I hope it made your university experience richer.

Going forward I hope you remember your involvement matters, whether that be in residency associations, clubs or class, and that every action, no matter how minor it might seem, contributes to a legacy of unity and progress. As we break for the summer I hope you have time to rest and recharge. Embrace new experiences, reflect on your own goals, and cherish the friendships you’ve built. Each of you has the potential to make an impact, and I am excited to see how you will continue to evolve and contribute to campus next year if you are returning, or to the wide world in general. Let’s carry forward the momentum we’ve built together. Stay engaged, stay curious, and never hesitate to speak up.

As my time with the UASU comes to an end, I am reminded of the cyclical pattern of life—It is spring, a time for new beginnings. What will you start this season?

Best wishes,

Lisa Glock
UASU President 2024-25

Saving Your Dollars, Getting You Money

• Thanks to our advocacy, Exceptional Tuition Increases (ETIs) were blocked this year. This means millions of dollars in savings for students, protecting your finances at a crucial time!
• To clarify international tuition hikes, we hosted a town hall and Deputy Provost Melissa Padfield was available to answer students' questions.
• Relatedly, we helped ease financial burdens on international students by getting the university to allow international students to divide up tuition payments interest free. This advocacy for a cohort-based tuition model and increased installments will have great impact.
• We negotiated for a new U-Pass agreement, which will save our members around 3.5 million dollars over three years.
• Did you notice how much more time you have for lunch now that you aren’t trapped for ages in the microwave line? Your Vice President of Finance, Levi Flaman brought in commercial-grade machines for SUB to get the job done quicker.
• Joining a group purchasing organization will mean big bucks back for the UASU.  We will start to see the results of this partnership next year. For SUBmart alone, we spend around $440,000 dollars a year stocking the shop.  A conservative estimate will see us saving 2% (or about $8000), thanks to being large-volume purchase discounts. Add in savings we will also see at the Daily Grind, Dewey’s, and in other areas, makes this a big win for future students.
• We saved students money on textbooks in new ways:
  • Collaborated with the library to boost instructors’ awareness of Open Educational Resources (OER), reducing the number of paywalled texts required in classes. 
  • Met with student associations from across Alberta to expand Open Education advocacy. 
• We successfully advocated to add a needs-based component to $130,000 of merit-based financial aid from the University.
• Along with counterparts, the UASU has secured commitments that this year there will NOT be major processing delays with Alberta Student Aid like we saw in 2023 and 2024.

Connecting with Students

• Your UASU executives worked to be more accessible through tabling, holding regular published Executive Office Hours, and attending student events.
• To allow students an opportunity to connect with executives, an Executive Event Attendance Tracker was created. 
• VP’s Student Life, Renson Alva and External, Abdul Abbasi, were able to win a Flixbus pilot route from Camrose to Edmonton in Fall Term 2024. This has now transitioned into a new regular, scaled down bus route. Despite a U of A hiring freeze, we successfully advocated for Augustana to be able to hire a shuttle van driver to make the round trip two times a week, and your UASU provided funding for a third weekly round trip.  This shuttle is seeing good use by staff and students.
• As well, Renson was a key force behind the push to get the East Campus Student’s Association restarted, hosting their elections and releasing over $20K in funds from the past ECSA fee.
• Renson also collaborated with the Dean of Students and other U of A organizations for a snack and school supplies drive where boxes of free stationary were given away to students and food was donated to Campus Food Bank.
• Last year important work started to secure appropriate financial support for Palestinian Students. This year’s executives continued the efforts with meetings with senior administration and working groups and contributed to the announcement that a Displaced Palestinian Student Bursary (DPSB) was created.

Access, Community, Belonging, and Indigenization

• To improve visibility of student resources for Indigenous students on campus, we launched a new UASU Indigenous Initiatives web page.
• We have implemented Indigenous Elder and Honorarium Protocols in areas like student group training to compensate indigenous students and community members for their knowledge and contributions to campus life. 
• We are making more Indigenous green spaces by sharing a plot in the Campus Garden for First Peoples’ House, and working with the Indigenous Students’ Union to plant it.
• Your President, Lisa Glock, has worked hard to improve EDI initiatives on campus and in student leadership circles across the country.  An EDI survey and an EDI policy have been developed for CASA. Councilors are now recommended to be certified through the federal government Gender Based Analysis plus program - a basic introductory course.
• To make student governance more accessible, a childcare policy has been created with support for student councillors who parent.
• Parents of infants will soon have another clean, safe, private space to breastfeed and pump on campus, with a new Mamava Lactation Station being installed in SUB. Renson worked with the Dean of Students to purchase the station, and developed an agreement for the UASU to maintain it.
• After much work and advocacy,  language for religious accommodations is being changed and updated. 
• Executives have heard concerns about the University Horizons website for study-abroad programs. We have secured commitments that will be improved!
• After extended efforts, your VP Academic, Layla Alhussainy, was able to find a fellow champion for development of a Campus Accessibility Map. The Dean of Students has embraced this project which will be a solid tool to show students how to access classrooms and buildings. It also will show accessible drop off locations.  

Safety

• Safewalk now has 24/7 building access, ensuring better safety and weather protection for students.
• During U-Pass negotiations, Levi, Abdul and Renson also received a commitment from Edmonton Transit Service to improve cell service in LRT stations.
• Continuing the work of the previous VP Academic, Layla contributed feedback and supported the development of U of A's new centralized online portal for experiential learning.
• As part of the Experiential Learning Committee Layla worked on survivor-centered protocols for sexual violence prevention in Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and completed a draft toolkit that is currently being tested out before being publicly launched.
• Have you had a flat tire or dead car battery on campus? Your UASU has purchased booster packs and coordinated with U of A Protective Services (UAPS) to use them when called by stranded drivers on campus to come and help get you going again.

Raising Students’ Voices: Advocacy Off-Campus 

Municipally

• Abdul (also the Chair of the Edmonton Student Alliance) presented key student priorities to the Urban Planning Committee and the City. We’re collaborating to keep housing, and transit needs front and center in local decision-making. 
• We collaborated with the City for a transportation focus group and Edmonton wide post-secondary surveys on housing and transportation.
• We advocated for freedom for public gatherings as the city proposed changes to their public spaces bylaw. UASU wrote a letter to Edmonton City Council with recommendations. 

Provincially

• In advance of the provincial budget, we joined student associations across the province in sending a message to the government that post-secondary schools are in need of funding.When the budget came out, it included much needed capital funding to grow some areas of the U of A.
• We have been advocating for the Province to re-institute the Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP), which offered funding for employers to hire students for summer work. We were able to get a letter of support for this from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce to strengthen this effort. 

Federally

• International students in co-op placements told us about the red tape around extra work permits they need to get to graduate. Abdul brought this to the federal immigration minister personally, and got the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) on board to craft recommendations to the federal government to fix this. We secured a letter of support for this from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and are watching to see what comes of this work.
• With CASA, Lisa and Abdul pushed the federal government to (1) raise the Canada Student Grant maximum, (2) improve Indigenous Student Financial Aid, and (3) extend the Student Work Placement Program. All of these requests made it into the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Finance for the 2025 federal budget.  We will soon see how this advocacy rolls out.  

Sustainability

• We collaborated with Dish Zero to secure a place for them to wash dishes and cut back on single use products. The work they do is amazing and we are proud to play a part in it.
• The Period Equity Initiative has been funded, and has an improved operational infrastructure through official collaboration with the student group “Club Periodically.” Renson and Club Periodically volunteers campaigned to create a new Dedicated Fee which will ensure reliable funding for the Initiative going into the 2025-26 academic year. 
  • In addition to low-waste disposable menstrual products, menstrual cups have been added to the options provided by the Initiative. 

Foundations for the Future (What we’re passing to the next team) 

• With the lived experience of the benefit of collaboration, the UASU has entered into a coalition with other University of Alberta Associations.  Now, the Graduate Students’ Association, Non-Academic Staff Association, and the Post Doctoral Fellows Association have come together to present a united front in the work we do for our members.
• Layla put a lot of energy into advocating for high-flex learning: the most accommodating teaching delivery, in which students can choose to learn in-person or online. Through extensive discussion, we learned that this method of teaching is more expensive to facilitate, including technology and training for instructors. Unless budgets are expanded by the university we won’t see more of this on a large scale.
• Work is underway between the Administration and the UASU President to create a crisis communication plan to keep students in the loop if there ever should be a crisis involving the University.
• Big effort was put into trying to get a library that would stay open all night.  Although Layla worked tirelessly to make this happen, the extra security staff that would also need to be around all night meant it could not be done without more money being allocated to this by the university.
• Lisa and Layla strongly advocated for increased transparency around what supports are available to students in times of crisis. There are certain supports that are in place, but students are not always able to find them.  It was learned these supports are not clearly laid out on the university website and not all advisors know of them.
• Campus St-Jean boosted enrollment thanks to our federal advocacy through CASA!  The joint efforts led to a new pilot program to assist Francophone international students with their visa applications.
• A two year project is underway to restructure how advising works. 
  • The first step is to  determine universal requirements for every faculty: so far, sensitivity training and information on how to interact with Indigenous people and those with disabilities will be part of this baseline. 
  • During the process setting this up, Layla emphasized how important it is for advisors to all have access to the same information and resources.
• Many hours of work and effort went into fighting First Day Access. Layla publicly opposed it in every area possible, through letters, at General Faculties Council, in individual meetings with the Provost and with the Coalition for Affordable Course Material. Now with the program going ahead the focus will shift to informing students of how to ensure they are best positioned to take advantage of it or opt out before the deadline.