What does this mean for Laurier Students?  It means our classes that have full time professors will be cancelled until they reach some form of agreement.  Our student government has taken a stand against it, with current WLUSU President Nick Gibson writing a letter on behalf of the students that can be seen at this website http://www.wlusu.com/home/open-letter-to-the-presidents-of-wlu-and-wlufa-in-response-to-the-status-of-faculty-labour-negotiations

While Gibson tries to get them to not strike, and shows that the students strongly oppose it, it doesn’t really hold any power over the whole situation.  Obviously students aren’t in favor of a strike, we lose money and potential credits, and for some graduating students, it could pose a serious speed bump in their future plans.

What’s your opinion though?  Should we be concerned, and should WLUSU try and take more action against it?  Or is it really out of our hands, and should we just sit by and see what happens?  It’s your call, post your comments below.

To read more on the issue read the article here http://thecord.ca/articles/51649

So, there are two copies of this story out there this morning.

There is, of course, the short one written for my beloved Sputnik, and then an extended version with some added tidbits which is published in our sister paper in Waterloo, The Cord. Please note the one below contains files from Marcie Foster, Lead Reporter for The Cord.

—-

The Wilfrid Laurier University Student Union hopes a new coffee kiosk on the Brantford campus will not only fulfil student needs, but boost business to the struggling Williams operation.

The Williams Fresh Café in Laurier Brantford’s Market Square, which is franchised by WLUSU, had a deficiency of over $111,000 for the year ending April 2011, according to documents obtained by The Cord and The Sputnik.

Compared to 2009 when the deficit was running over $220,000, the running deficit has been nearly halved in the two-year period. Yet, Williams still struggles financially, as seen by the six-digit price tag that it costs to run the restaurant.

In all, since its 2008 opening, the Williams at Laurier Brantford has ran up a deficit of $655,398.

However, members of WLUSU are optimistic that Golden Grounds, a new coffee and hot drink kiosk in Laurier Brantford’s Research and Academic Centre West building, will help boost business at the café. The coffee kiosk, set to open Dec. 5, is expected to generate a modest surplus of around $20,000 each year.

.

Golden Grounds will feature locally roasted beans from Blue Dog Coffee Roasters, a local favourite amongst both students and faculty.

“It will balance where we’re serving coffee and people have options, we’re going to be able to serve more people at Williams and turn the tables over faster, and ultimately make everybody happy,” said Michael McMahon, general manager of WLUSU.

“[The kiosk will be] right near the bookstore, just like the Starbucks in the [Waterloo campus] Concourse,” added WLUSU president and CEO Nick Gibson of the kiosk’s convenience.

“It is right near the student centre and right near the athletic complex; it’s centrally located and a little more accessible to students and it’s also near a lot of study space and lounge space as well.”

Others fear, however, that the new kiosk will only take away from the already struggling Williams.

With the addition of increased food options in the downtown core as the campus grows, with the likes of Coffee Culture, Pantry Café, and others, there is a potential for Williams to fade into the scenery of downtown restaurants, as it is no longer holds a monopoly on the downtown eating core.

Even still, McMahon says that Williams is a necessity for Laurier Brantford, acting as an essential service to students.

“There is no healthy balanced food option for students in Brantford, right now the university hasn’t offered any other food options for students, and what’s available downtown does not reflect that, where a student can find a healthy meal,” he said.

One advantage that Williams does have over other competitors is its secondary use as a study area for Laurier students. As Holly Kaiser, executive vice-president: Brantford for WLUSU, points out, the space is crammed with students on an everyday basis.

“[The original idea was] in creating the full service restaurant, instead of potentially just the window style, it gave students a place to go and sit and study, and we don’t kick students out for studying too long, even if they just have a drink, that’s not a thing, we don’t do that, because it provides for students,” Kaiser said. “And I think that even if the WLUSU isn’t making copious amounts of money off Williams, the idea is to do something for students, to fill a need, fill the gap.”

Gibson added that Williams has undergone major strategic changes over the summer in order to reduce the deficit and prevent further loss.

“Management structure has been a big thing,” he said. “Having more efficient use of space, and a little bit different in terms of service offerings. So that would be an example of the coffee kiosk as a different offering on the campus.”

Gimmicks.

To begin thinking about political behaviour, I’d like to start on a micro level – with the things that relate closest to me. It’s election time at Wilfrid Laurier. With campaigns kicking into high gear, student engagement seems higher this year than in years past.

In this week’s PO 240 class we discussed low youth participation in politics and the typical voter turnout in students’ union elections is no different – dismal numbers year after year. This year, however, I’ve been staggered by the amount of gimmicking that seems to be rampant – by one presidential candidate in particular.

On the first day of campaigning, social networking sites were aflutter with talk of flash mobs put on by this campaign team and my Facebook feed was inundated by the spread of his humourous campaign videos. This sudden burst of excitement seemed to cause students to get on board with the campaign – and quickly. Soon, people’s display photos changed to the campaign poster and the campaign team could boast a brilliant viral marketing success.

Like many, I too was intrigued by the sudden influx of interest dominating my Facebook page. I watched a video and sought out the campaign website to check out the candidate’s platform. To my disappointment, the candidate’s website wasn’t even up yet and therefore I could not get any information on the candidate’s position. This leads me to conclude that my fellow students got on board with this candidate with little to no knowledge of what he stood for or if he would represent their issues in any capacity.

As the campaign season wears on, I can’t say my initial impressions have changed. Having had the opportunity to now read his platform, it isn’t exceptionally groundbreaking. He continues to release videos that instead of highlighting his platform, only seek to entertain. Yet, students continue to get on board.

I think this highlights some interesting points when considering youth participation in politics. I think there are lessons here that can be transferred to other, more high profile election campaigns.
1. Students need to feel included – as though they truly have a stake in the outcome. In the case of this particular campaign, a wide variety of students were recruited to participate in flash mobs which created the impression that they were an integral element of the campaign and helped foster a vested interest in the outcome.
2. Mechanisms to reach youth voters need to be creative and innovative – It has been proven time and again that the usual tactics utilized by those vying for office do not appeal to or generate an interest in youth voters. Candidates must engage youth in the spaces where they spend most of their time in ways that are unique to this part of the electorate.
3. Candidates need to be personable and charismatic – Youth responded overwhelmingly to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign because he was dynamic and took an explicit interest in engaging them.

A final lesson that I think can be taken from these WLUSU elections is that once you secure the youth vote, they will be passionate and committed supporters. If a candidate can overcome the challenges of an apathetic demographic, they will emerge with a contingent of loyal supporters to help a message go viral.

The caveat, of course, to all of this is that until next week, we have no idea how the chips will fall and which WLUSU presidential candidate will be named the students’ union president for 2011/2012. Nevertheless, I’m excited to see just how effective this viral campaign will be at turning excitement into results at the voting booth.

Sue Mathews

Cameron McGregor

Amanda Thomas

Nick Savage

Board of Directors:

Trevor Faessler

President:

Kyle Walker

Tomorrow is the official day you vote to decide who is going to be your BOD, BCC, or WLUSU President! So come on out and let your voice (or vote) be heard!

See you at the Student Center Multi-Purpose room from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM to vote! And don’t forget the Elections After-Party at The Piston Broke at 9:30 PM!

Kory -

Lawrence – I think it’s important that the president next year does have a good understanding of the system. The position that is being created is an internal operations VP to work with Scott and Jamie’s current positions. By allowing our existing VPs to work with the students in a better way and to let our students have the best possible university experience

Kyle – It’s important to try new initiatives while restructuring. We should be adding to the internal operations of the Brantford to help with the running of the campus.

**CLARIFICATION**

The new position that will be created till be the Services position, splitting the Student Affairs position into Services and Activities and leaving the internal operations position.

-  Lawrence specific: How would you like to further the relationships with SCS, etc. and how will this contribute to our students feeling better downtown

-  This for me is speaking with a lot of different students, security is a major concern. By working with Special Constables, Foot Patrol and the municipal government. We need to work municipally to increase the street lighting on the roads that students use frequently. By providing the opportunity to work with steering committees with groups that already exist to increase the safety. I know that the services you do have work well, it’s about continuing with these relationships and making sure that next year we have more tangible results.

-  Kory – Our real strength is going to have to be where we approach the city council and Brant region and asking for more police services to protect their citizens. When we look at the partnerships we can provide through the SU. When we look at the actual ways of increasing security, we’re talking about a larger goal, about a person who can advocate to city council and to the government. A lot comes from the community as a whole and it’s something that I’m going to be looking at for the EVP position

-  Kyle – Like the other candidates, I have campus safety in my platform. I talk about it with Foot Patrol extended hours and ERT implementation. Dr. Blouw is talking about the innovation of our campus. Foot Patrol expansion of hours could be an hour this year and another hour next year. ERT may not be a structured space on campus where they’re on call. It may be a service where a group of people willing to train those who are interested in providing first aid training on campus

-  Sunny – I am aware of this issue but did not put it in my platform because it is in the Ends Policy that the President has to ensure the safety of all students and to ensure that every student feels safe on our campus. I would delegate this task to the EVP: Brantford because they would be more aware of the situation. I would make sure that we’re consulting and putting the security for the students first.

-  What’s your worst quality

-  Lawrence – I am a perfectionist. I demand the best and expect the best of myself and of those who work with me. I have a strategic plan and I like to follow it. At the end of the day I see it not as my worst quality, but something to work with

-  Kyle – I’d say the worst quality I have is that I try to do too much by myself. I’m very involved on campus and am told “slow down” but that’s who I am. I like to get involved and make a difference.

-  Sunny – I’m annoying and I am unorthodox and because of this I’m going to turn it around and say because I’m annoying I can make things happen and being unorthodox does make enemies, but it is a different approach and a different way, but it may be the right choice

-  Kory – Mine is probably second guessing myself. I don’t like to make snap decisions under pressure. That can show part of a strong leader who looks to get more facts and the need to 2nd guess yourself. If you’re not 2nds guessing yourself how can you be sure you’re representing the needs appropriately.

-  If you couldn’t win the election, who would you select to be President and why?

-  Kyle – I would select Kory. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Kory this year and we have a lot of similarities in our platforms and he has a good understanding of student needs

-  Sunny – I would vote for Mr. Walker because I believe he is committed to make a difference just like me, by providing an opportunity

-  Kory – I would support Kyle walker, mainly because his platform is so similar to mine and also because there’s an agreement to work after the election, regardless of the results, because we both are committed to focusing on the issues

-  Lawrence – I would choose Mr. Preston for President. He stands for what we need to be looking at for students as a whole and has a lot of experience with advocacy

-  With less than 3 months to transition into the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation, what experience do you have within the union to transfer over to this role

-  Sunny – Being on the Board for the last two years has changed me in terms of I have a goo understanding of what the presidents do, every other Friday for board meetings. Through monitoring reports, financial snapshots, etc. Other than hat, I have been in the office a lot, just visiting people, and I believe that I have a lot of information about how WLUSU operates

-  Kory – I don’t like talking about experiences. I think that they give you good qualities but sometimes frustrate me because it distracts from talking about the year ahead. Since Jan of 1st year I’ve been representing students in some capacity. From there I’ve taken on the ‘greater student picture’ and took on the role of OUSA campus coordinator and was involved with OUSA for the two years following that, which lead me into my current role of VP:UA, which has allowed me many great opportunities

-  Lawrence – For myself, I truly believe experience is something that is valuable. I believe it values any potential candidate to run an organization. This is an extremely well run organization, the students deserve to have us as a whole a representative who has worked from every possible position, almost. In those roles I learned so much and accomplished so much more. At the end of the day, you will have the choice of who will best represent you.

-  Kyle – I agree, experience does mean a lot. In terms of the candidates, we’re all very experienced, coming from different backgrounds across the campus. There’s a learning curve for anyone. I think Laura would admit that; she was a brilliant candidate who won by a lot of votes, but I think even she would admit that there’s a learning curve. I come from very difference aspects of campus life. I haven’t left residence since first year as a don for three years, I’ve had two part time jobs, on the Milton planning committee, and a coordinator-level position twice, and my university-wide experience is very useful.

In your platform, you propose extended holidays (thanksgiving). Does it affect the study period for exams?

-           Kyle — one of the different options, there is discussion about extending holidays and keeping the current study period. I’m not the kind of person to shy away from problems. I can see the extended period alleviating the stress from the study period

-           Kory — some think it’s great, others disagree. Feedback I’ve heard is 4 exams scheduled for the same day, and having 4 exam slots, having 4 – 5 exams in 2 -3 days is really stressful. Bigger issue is talking to the university?

-           Maclin — disagree. By moving these days around, students will have issues fitting everything in and doing well during this time. Doing the students better as a whole by leaving it the way it is

-           Sunny — not pres job to lobby to the university about this, its senate. I don’t use those two days to study, imp lazy when it comes to school. My friends are likely to by playing video games. But if I did have those days, maybe I would actually study. My academic standing speaks for me.

If you could only accomplish one this in your platform, what would it be?

-           Kory — biggest priority is preventing a strike, we pay too much as is. Represent stud voice before the discussions start. Implement strike prevention strategy to make sure students get worth

-           Maclin – sense of security, everyone deserves right to enjoy and use services that we provide safely, studs should have to worry about getting home after events and worry about safety. Work with SC, Brant city police

-           Kyle — low cost initiative. LORIS registration open, expansion of WLU wireless, lap top plug in, study group space

-           Sunny — strategic planning report is #1 thing I will be doing. Specifically Brant focused retail operation in Brantford outside of Williams.

What are you doing to engage apathetic students towards WLUSU and engage students who live off campus, and commute?

-           Maclin – working with LCD monitor screens on campus to give opportunity to know whets going on. Have all students know what is going on, thus eliminating all the problems that might exist, and get rid of paper. Programming right now is not working

-           Kyle –At this point in time, with the economic situation, we don’t need LCD monitors on our campus. What we need is low-cost initiatives to partner outside of the Students’ Union. Residence Life, SCS, WLUSP, LSPIRG and extending to other WLU groups and not just doing it all on our own

-           Sunny – I think LCDs are a good idea, but I think that the economics towards it are not a good idea for the time being. To answer your question. I don’t think that these students need to be part of WLUSU even though they all need fees. There are other silos around and we need to connect them all together. For any student who is not within the students’ union and their events, there are other areas where they can accomplish their student life ambitions.

-           Kory – I think it’s an interesting question that we grapple with right now as current VPs. Trying to inspire students to become involved with different projects is tough. There are a lot of things asking a lot of students’ time and it’s important to feel that they have the opportunity but not pressured. We need to look at our market research activity and see that we’re allocating funding to areas students have expressed interest in.

Q: Lawrence – I was reading through your platform and you say that our MPR is licensed and that our MPR is place to do food and bar operations. What are your plans and other candidates what are your opinions

-  Lawrence – It’s an important initiative for dining services. We don’t have a concrete plan. Financially it isn’t a possibility to run a bar. What I’m offering is to run pub style food out of a room that you already have with adding a few things. To be able to have students have this opportunity it’s a lower cost alternative

-  Kory – One of the biggest upsets was not including the DH in the plans for the new building, which I think is ridiculous. What I’ve heard from students is that on this campus there isn’t one place for all students to come together. I think this goes back on bringing in a GM, we need a plan and to know what we’re doing with Food Services on residence. It’s something that the university is obliged to provide to us, and we haven’t been successful thus far pushing for.

-  Sunny – I guess that for retail operations as a whole, because the campus was built downtown, it seems like they were hoping that the private sector would provide the retail services, and then focus later on the dining hall. Now that Brantford has existed for 10 years, it’s important to have a dining hall and retail operations. Most campuses newly built, have a dining hall within the first 5 years, so I guess it’s our time to commit

-  Kyle – I agree with Kory that it was not good to not see DH facilities. IN terms of space, I would like to see increase study space on campus. Going to my pub committee, we’re not looking at doing it overnight, but rather getting people together and examining the opportunities with our existing bar managers.

-  Funding for your various proposals, what will you cut form other student services?

-  Sunny – For the retail ops its easy because we already have a few that’s accumulated for a retail operations, but in my plan I have stated that in budgets, both campuses should be saving money in order to pay for capital projects. I believe that he WLUSU terms of financing, we should be able to meet Brantford needs immediately and not worrying about that

-  Kory – For the GM position, it would be balanced across the board. Very small, surface level cuts would be used. The flip side, the benefits of having a plan, especially when we look at business ops, they will act as a money maker. The output will be outweighed by the benefits

-  Lawrence – LCD Screens specifically. There’s a possibility for at a very low cost, for companies to put screens in at no cost but pay for software. It’s important to have a staff member in Brantford. It would be spread out over different departments so no one department is hit. The changes to the MPR would be limited expenses, depending on what people would like to see as a whole. Pride and tradition is important on this campus.

-  Kyle – If you were looking at my platform, it would be focused on the Pub. I don’t want to cut anything; I’m suggesting we look at the opportunity right now with no commitment to costs. I’m not promising a campus pub this year because I don’t want to cut anything

-  There have been questions about the campuses being separate. How will you bring the campuses together to be more tight-knit?

-  Kory – It will be a responsibility for the GM. If it means that we need to look into bus services between the campuses, so be it. The important thing we need is to develop the plan with the GM. It’s also important to highlight the autonomy. It’s important to develop the programs here so that you don’t feel the need to come to Waterloo as much.

-  Lawrence – I think the collaboration between the two campuses is very important. They’re not all the same. Yes, there is collaboration that can be done. PD&T this year shared resources and allowed us to share and collaborate on our experiences. Introducing the possibility of a manager for this campus, we need to have a plan. In this position, we need them to help work with us, to create job descriptions and work together to provide support.

-  Kyle – Every year people talk about transparency and collaboration. It’s the important to focus on the little initiatives. There are a lot of out dated brochures and documentation that say “Laurier” and “Laurier Brantford” we need to update this so it’s “Laurier Waterloo” “Laurier Brantford.” It’s also important to preserve the uniqueness of our campuses.

-  Sunny – It’s what your campus wants to do. Do you want more autonomy or more collaboration with Waterloo? In terms of collaboration, I’m willing to communicate with both campuses and I will be attempting to host a couple conferences on the weekends of every semester to try and communicate the things happening on both campuses.

-  Hiring a GM, what are the merits of hiring this position and what would be the day to day job description?

-  Kory – the feedback that I’ve received from our EVPs, AVPs, etc. is that we need help dealing with the finance side and we have an officer coming down a few times a week. We need to dissolve this and have Brantford operating on their own. They would operate a petty cash system, handling finances and above that it would supervise the Operations here at Brantford, specifically the business operations. This way we can ensure our GM in Waterloo can focus in the waterloo operations and separate the responsibilities out.

-  Lawrence – I have dealt with Mr. McMahon over the past years and speaking about this. The SAC has been a great resource, but is an employee of the University. Having a GM would work directly with students on a day-to-day basis is important. Administration fees would also be reduced, as we would rely less on our Waterloo campus.

-  Kyle – I like the idea of it, but I don’t know where you would cut and where you would get the salaries. The SU has identified some ways in which we can restructure the Brantford campus and I’d be willing to wait and see where this person comes first before we can make any additional staff support.

-  Sunny – I disagree with having a general manager as it’s extremely expensive to hire a management and Brantford has not been saving money to hire this GM. My approach is to hire a staff member to deal with Brantford’s student union matters. When they have spare time, they will be tasked with Waterloo-based tasks. This is part of my initiative to split the WLUSU into three branches with the GM managing all branches.

-  How do you feel about the relationship between WLU-WLUSP and who is your favourite superhero?

-  Lawrence – It’s an important relationship where we work together on a lot of different issues. I believe that we both work to meet the same needs. WLUSP work to inform students and WLUSU does the same thing, but on a day-to-day basis. I think it’s an incredible relationship but I think it’s something we can build upon. Batman.

-  Kyle – I think the relationship is getting better. I would say there are some gaps and barriers. We can do a lot better with communicating with each other, but I think a lot of people university-wide saw WLUSU and WLUSP working together to see how a service can be provided. Batman.

-  Sunny – I have nothing negative to say about student publications, but I have nothing positive to say about student publications. We should be working together as an excellent communication bond to reach out to all the students at WLU. I don’t idolize a lot of things, not even myself, so I can’t even tell you who my favourite superhero is.

-  Kory – I think the role of WLUSP is to hold the SU accountable and that’s what I appreciate them for. Using press releases with WLUSP has been a great way of promoting the great things that we’re doing outside of the university and has been appreciated. Steven Louis is my super hero – a retired politician who is doing a lot of work now in Africa and is someone who really inspires me.

-  When the BOD looked at Brantford’s budget, overhead was one of the biggest issues. How do you plan for paying for a full-time staff member when overhead is an issue?

-  Lawrence – Overhead exists because it works as year-long process that said if there are ways to minimize overhead we will use it. The position is a possibility that we can split across the departments. The different departments would share the expense, spread around so that students as a whole aren’t seeing the difference in the amount of money. This person would aid in creating the student experience that we all want.

-  Kory – I don’t think there’s anything wrong with overhead, as long as the output is useful. Overhead is a great thing if it means that you’re getting a dedicated resource as a full-time staff member. The salary is not based directly on the title. Overhead strengthens WLUSU.

-  Kyle – I’m all for waiting to see the restructuring and go through it. The last thing we need is restructuring on top of restructuring. We should see how the restructuring works out before we talk about creating a staff member

-  Sunny – a GM will be asking a significant amount of money. To elaborate on my plan, there are three arms. Retail, Brantford, and Waterloo; pull the VP:UA out of Waterloo and put it into “Central” with the CEO, VP:UA, and CEO to deal with the university wide affairs to make sure that everyone at WLU is represented at a university level.

-  With overhead at 60%, do you feel that initiatives like safety like buying medical kids for ERT (etc) should be more important than creating a GM position or creating an interim-dining hall?

-  Kory – Medical kits for ERT can be considered overhead because they can be considered a part of running the service. Overhead is a big thing. What isn’t overhead is what we put into purchasing things for clubs. When we look at what we can gain out of overhead is structure. We need those products, you’re right, but when it comes down to what is the student union: what is our goal. It’s to provide for the needs of students. I think it should do it through advocacy first and the best plans you’re going to get are people you’re going to pay. I think LWUSU should be doing more on behalf of all students and to do that we’re going to need professionals

-  Lawrence – To begin, I agree security and safety needs to be our number one concern and is a major concern. Going above and beyond that, no where do I discuss creating an interim dining hall, we should do it the right way. My suggestion for using a room and space that already exists is to offer students a way to enjoy each other. To bring in the facilities to bring in the food and drink, would not cost the students very much. For something like ERT, we need to make sure that we’re bringing them in the best, most responsible way for the campus.

-  Sunny – Money is always going to be the SU’s limiting factor. Our volunteers are endless and I praise the university for generating a near endless supply of volunteers. In Brantford, we only have a Williams and we’re not generating the revenue that we want. IN order to bring overhead down, we need to increase retail services to bring in more money. I will say that within my election, I want to pull overhead down to below 50% for both campuses. I know I can do that in Waterloo easily, but it’s more difficult in Brantford. I will make a note that in the way we do budgeting has a huge influence on the way that we do our Ends Policy, which doesn’t give us the creativity to put money where it really should go

-  Kyle – In terms of my platform, I take providing for the needs of students in a different way. My platform is full of different plans and initiatives to provide for students in a different way, with limited to no cost. ITS upgrades, improvements to Grant Fund applications, etc. I encourage everyone to go through my platform and try to put a price tag to it, because I think you’ll find that providing for the needs of students doesn’t have to be expensive.

Wrap-up

-  Sunny – I would like to thank all of you for coming and listening. I will provide you with a website (website) and I hope that you’ll provide me with the opportunity to make a difference and I’ll provide you back with the opportunities to make a difference. I’ll end it the same way I did last year with a rant. “I’m Sunny, I love honey, I don’t have that much money, I don’t like bunnies, and what else rhymes…oh well vote for me”

-  Kyle – I’m not going to force my platform or experience anymore. Strong Voice, Innovative Thinking and Collaborative Work (?). I encourage you to visit my facebook group. Some of the most interesting conversations that I’ve had in the past week has been with people that I haven’t met before calling me and chatting

-  Lawrence – I’ve said a lot of what I wanted to say, and I want to thank everyone for coming out. For me, a lot of what I stand for besides passion and experience is leading by example. I’ve had the opportunity to work with excellent people over the past few years and I’ve come to realize that students as a whole are working towards the same end goal in the best interests of all students. I’m promising things that can happen that you can see. The things I’m working with are things that you yourself have come to talk to me about. Like LCD monitors that don’t cost a lot of money and help you become engaged. The MPR is an idea that doesn’t cost a lot of money but can happen next year. Creating safety is crucial. The GM, limiting the fees that you pay, will help you on a daily basis. A lot of people are telling you what you need; Brantford knows what you need and what you want. I’d be very proud to work with Brantford next year. Believe the possibilities, my platform works with tangibles because it’s for you next year

-  Kory – Thanks again for coming out today and being as informed as possible. I’ve had some great memories of coming to Brantford campus, starting in my first year as a member of the Board and making frequent trips since. Brantford is always a party and for people I’ve bumped into, I’ve really appreciated our opportunities to have a chat. IM amazed by what the exec team can do. They literally take dollars and look at them as 100 pennies. It’s difficult as a VP at Waterloo to keep Brantford in mind. I will get a WWBD bracelet on my signing hand for “What would Brant do”? So I don’t accidentally forget about it. I’m pressing for autonomy or empowerment.

Board of Directors

Matthew Mendonca, Seth Warren, Christopher Oberle, John Sampson, Chris Walker, Robert Thompson, Tom Papanastasiou, Kyle Hocking, Jon Pryce, Ahmer Bhurgri, Michael Onabolu, Jonathan Collaton, Greg Evans

Seth – 1^st year Biz student at Waterloo. New to the area, from Nova Scotia who moved here in September for school. I’m new to everything around here, the people the ideas and the opportunities. I feel this means, to Brantford, that I’ll be open to ideas no matter where they come from – Waterloo or Brantford. I feel that representation of all students is what’s important. Ideas that may seem radical or unrealistic to a Waterloo student may be very needed for the growth of Brantford students.

Tom – 2^nd year business student. Voices and concerns of the student population are addressed. Clarity – when the BOD makes a proposal or change, detailed resources are available to you so you can tell why that change is occurring. I would consider myself a typical student. I’ve been a bit involved, but I haven’t quite found my fit. I feel I can approach the Board as an unbiased person. I want to make sure that the opinions and needs of students who do not vote are met, because their opinion is just as important as that of someone who is involved in WLUSU. I want to make it easier for students to raise concerns, other than email – such as a web format. I want to make sure all students get an equal say.

Jon – I’m involved on campus. I think the Board should stand for three things. Accountability, Transparency, and the ability to produce results is what the Board should strive for. Making that the board’s mandate would really help. As we’ve seen this past year, regardless of the boards progress or lack of progress there’s very little communication. I think there should be an allotted time where the Board is literally communicating to the student body and saying what they have done and what the results are. In conclusion, I think we should make Brantford back into the decision-making process. We need to make sure they’re accurately represented.

Greg – 4^th year PoliSCi major in Waterloo. Sitting director. I’m involved in many parts of Laurier, member of Sigma Chi, LMT, and others. I have a few initiatives for this year. They include realigning and refocusing the BCC and what they do. I was proud to be on the BCC realignment committee this year, and I’m interested in looking at reviewing the governance policy to see how we can work with the Board and Management Group. If you have any questions about my job this year or next year, feel free to ask questions or talk to me after.

Kyle – Sitting director and I have a few main initiatives. First, I want to reform our ends document (goals of the organization). One of the main priorities should be to lobby on behalf of students. Secondly, I’d like to continue my work on quality control, making sure that all businesses produce a quality product in a safe environment. I’d like to be involved in the market research project next year. I’d like to be with the results next year to work on what they suggest.

Chris – Sitting director – 3^rd year double major in PoliSci and history. 3 main things I want to work on this year with the BOD. I want to make sure the BOD is advocating on behalf of the students. I want to increase WLUSU services, for example Foot Patrol and ERT, creating programs based on what students want. Third, I want to increase the awareness of the BOD and WLUSU. With the Market Research project, we saw that WLUSU is like a bubble and you’re either in it or not. I want to pop the bubble.

Michael – Sitting director & board secretary – 2^nd year business. I ran last year on a huge platform of awareness, transparency, etc. I had a lot of big ideas that I thought were realistic, like bringing the BOD down to Brantford for meetings. I’m still that same person, but now I have experience. You can’t always do what you want to do, based on time limitations and other limitations. I’d like to do things more realistically. Working with the BCC and using them the way that they’re supposed to be, as the representatives of Brantford to the Board. We do tend to forget about Brantford students, which is natural because of the distance. I want to work closely with the BCC to make sure that we talk frequently and often. This year, I’m running purely based on experience. The strategic planning document is up this year and I want to work on that to make sure we know how we’re tying the campuses together and how we are working to serve students.

Questions:

-          Question for Greg – You spoke of the campus realignment plan, can you explain what that was and what that means.  Other candidates, how would you be involved, what do you think is crucial about it.

• Greg – The BCC realignment committee met and tweaked what the BCC’s role was within WLUSU. We’ll be exploring more next year. We saw problems this year in how council was not necessarily representing students in the way that is best used. We’re trying to find the best way to represent Brantford students and use the BCC
• Tom – I don’t have a lot of experience with the BCC. I do know that there’s not a lot of communication between BCC and BOD. Part of my platform is to bring this communication in, including tying in the BCC and BoD. We may need to look at something other than email, like social media to tie them together.
• Jon – I’m familiar with the realignment committee. We have one Brantford member on the Board this year, but most students are in the dark about the process on both campuses, so we need to look at that. In general, 1/15 BOD members doesn’t suffice for representation so there needs to be better communication between BCC and BOD
• Kyle – I’d like to continue on the structure of the BCC. Right now they look more like an advisory group. I’d like to give them more power, since no one can govern you better than yourselves. We should work on that to see how they can better represent students
• Chris – The BCC is very important and we did have this committee, but there is more work to be done, especially with communication. This year, there was a capital expenditure for the video conferencing project that the Board rejected because we felt that the costs were prohibitive. There is more work that needs to be done between the BCC and the Board and how we should work together versus where we step in for our role. It would make sense that we have a joint panel of BCC members, Brantford students at large, Waterloo students at large and management to hammer out what we want BCC to be in future years.
• Michael – The issue of the realignment committee, I didn’t sit on the committee, but I would like to be more involved with it. I’d like there to be more communication with BCC, but it doesn’t have to be formal. Using other methods besides email is important. We don’t have to use the chairs communicating directly through email, as it’s inefficient. We can coordinate when BoD and BCC meet so we can coordinate our meetings and make sure that we’re collaborating. I didn’t have the experience last year, but after going through it I would like to take this and surpass the limitations
• Seth – I feel BCC is hugely important. They are looked at as under the BoD, however I think they should have more control than that. We should be able to give them more control; I don’t have all the answers for that, but I will do everything I can to find the answers.

-          Apart from the BCC, your job is to represent both campuses. What are you going to do as a Board if elected, apart from the BCC, to represent Brantford’s interests?

• Jon – I think it’s important to hold various programs where we come down to Brantford. The communication factor needs to happen first, before we take the step of saying “let’s go down to Brantford and have meetings”. I think that’s the first step, then, if we have time, I’d be more than happy to sit on the committee for Brantford and come down to Brantford
• Greg – This year as a director I found that BCC and the BOD operate exclusively. There’s little communication between us, but there need to be connections made and conversation between us to find out what the issues in Brantford are. There’s a large connection between management, but as far as governance goes, BCC and the BOD had almost nothing to do with each other and that needs to change 100%.
• Kyle – I agree communication is a big problem, but I would say that I’m a big fan of holding one meeting in Brantford per semester. We had a chair this year who wasn’t receptive to the idea, but I think moving into next year that it’s something we could pursue. I think that communication is a big problem and we had this video conferencing system proposal to cost about $40,000. We wanted to be fiscally prudent and didn’t think that was an appropriate cost to take, but we need to work on it, because it’s not where it needs to be.
• Chris – I think that the challenge has been the Board isn’t representing the Brantford campus. The role of the BCC is to make sure that they represent us on the Brantford campus and anything is brought to the BODs attention. I think the realignment to give them more control would let them do more and give the Board more information. I think holding meetings in Brantford would be important, even though that hasn’t happened yet. Being on Senate, I see that they and the Board of Governors have meetings here, but we all need to be on board. There are hesitations to come to Brantford, for example, I see that some of the candidates aren’t here. Mass emails are also alternatives. Lots of people don’t like them, but they work for some things and increased presence in the sputnik would help.
• Mike – We’re touching on the same subject. To clarify on bringing BOD meetings down to Brantford. The reason I want to do meetings in Brantford wasn’t just to have said that we had done it, but rather to get Brantford students engaged. Just coming to Brantford isn’t enough, but the real reason you want to come here is to get student opinions and one of the main ways to do that is to get the BCC involved. Just sitting in a room isn’t going to connect us with the students, but coming down and getting involved, that’s how you get to know the students and get to know what they care about.
• Seth – I’m not extremely familiar with the situation, but I feel that the important thing is to get Brantford and Laurier students together. If we can bring the BOD and BCC together, it can trickle down to the rest of the students. It’s not just having a meeting here, we need to have events, social events, that the average student can get involved with in order to make it a cohesive Laurier community.
• Tom – It’s inefficient to come down here and have meetings. You’d have to have an extra question period just to get Brantford students to have their questions answered. I think it’s best to have our questions submitted through some kind of internet solution. I think we can do one meeting here per semester, but we would need some kind of event.

-          Is there a situation in your life where you stood your ground and didn’t change your opinion because of a larger group’s opinion?

• Greg – We had a heated discussion regarding the elections policy review at the BOD this year. Many of those proposals were rejected by the BOD and I was one of the main opponents to the initiatives. Many people wanted the changes made, but I didn’t think they were right for WLUSU at the time and didn’t think they were right for Elections. Many of them didn’t pass, some of them did. Even though I wasn’t successful with all of them, I was proud to stand for my opinions.
• Kyle – I like to think I stand my ground in every scenario. When I make decisions, I keep “Providing for the Needs of Students’ un my mind. If I can mention one specific instance, we were having trouble earlier in the year with service at some of our businesses. Several students had approached me unhappy with the services and products provided to them. In a board meeting I mentioned this to President Sheridan and we had a discussion that resulted in some new hires being incorporated into our Wilf’s pub and the Terrace Food Court. It was brought to me by several students and I stood my ground and made sure it was followed through on
• Chris – During the summer budgeting process, I was deadest against the video conferencing system because I didn’t think it was a good price point for us. Each time we voted, I would always vote no and I did not budge in my decisions
• Michael – When management first brought up video conferencing, this was when we had first started our term and had just finished our training and had just learned about how to take what Management was taking and assess it. Video conferencing was the first thing brought forward that I wasn’t sure if it was the best decision. I was also torn between standing out and opposing something that should have gone through. I stepped up and I did agree with Chris. I also stood up and stood behind the Market Research project, because despite the politics behind it, it was important to find out what the students want.
• Seth – In high school I was student council president. Many of the students came to me and said they needed more activities in our town of 1,300. There was a huge demand for a youth centre, but there was a push back from the older residents of the community. Many people thought it would be a haven for bad behavior, but rather was a haven for people to come together and interact and socialize. As a representative of the students, we took it to the town and pushed for it and pushed back against the folks that didn’t believe it would be a good idea and now we do have a youth centre and a committee trying to work on it and make it grow.
• Tom – I’ve been a soccer referee for almost 5 years. I referee pretty competitive games and I’m constantly being undermined by players because of my size and age. It is hard to try and maintain your decision and buckle under pressure, but I always stand by it. I’m on a team with two other referees and in this case, I will be with 14 other directors on the Board to help support the decisions
• Jon – I am also a referee and have similar experiences with high stress decisions. We all start somewhere and I think it’s important to realize that we all have our own beliefs. I’m an argumentative guy, I don’t like to be proven wrong, but if I see enough evidence I can accept. I was a councilor training director at a camp and I wanted to write the program as we went along, which was in opposition to my coworkers. I stood strong at this time for what I believe in and I think I will continue to do that as a BOD member

-          How would you feel about changing the BCC from an advisory group to a group that works on decision making with policy editing abilities to make them more of an equal to the BOD

• Kyle – I agree. I think it’s useful to the BOD to have the BCC in an advisory role. However, I don’t think it’s very responsible for me, as a waterloo student, to make decisions on your behalf. We need to restructure the BCC to make them better equipped to govern Brantford
• Chris – The BCC should be an independent group of the Board. However, in that instance, I would advise it and have the BOD as an overseer position. The Board should still have a 2/3s majority vote to overturn decisions made by the BCC, but for day to day decisions I believe the BCC should make the decisions on our behalf.
• Michael – BCC should be an advisory committee. That’s not because I don’t think that BCC shouldn’t speak for the needs, but simply because of the way our governance structure works. For now BCC is under the Board of Directors and the only reason I think that it makes sense now is that if you were autonomous, who would you be overseeing? I ask that because management falls under the Board and the EVP falls under the President. If the EVP were separate were directly under the BCC that would be different. Looking at it this way, should we be looking at separating Brantford out and looking at its own President?  We need to look at this form a resources perspective
• Seth – the BCC in my mind needs to grow in this direction. It needs to grow and become more autonomous at this point. At this point, it might not make sense to take this on, as they have no one to oversee. I think we can address this through restructuring. Over time I think it will happen and it’s going to happen
• Tom – I agree with Michael. We need to communicate with the BC and determine what decisions nee dot be made
• Jon – the BCC needs to play a bigger role, but they need to remain an advisory committee. Members running for the BCC also have the opportunity to run for the Board. However, if the BCC was independent, we would be polarizing and causing conflict. We need to be more on level ground. I think we just need to be better about how we work on policy
• Greg – People often confuse the BOD with running the Waterloo campus and the BCC of being in charge of Brantford and having the two organizations be exclusive.  Giving the BCC more decision-making power right now doesn’t make sense. We need to address how they work and how they represent the Board of Directors. Need to make BCC more effective within WLUSU and the Board of Directors. I’m not sure autonomy is the right word to use, but more decision making power isn’t the right decision in the short term, though long term certainly. Brantford is growing extremely fast, and we need to figure out how the BCC is best used.

-          There’s been some attention about the composition of the candidates running for BOD, including the fact that there are no females, no Brantford students and that not enough people ran. Do you have any comments about this?

• Chris – the BOD needs to be diverse. Women make up 80% of the Brantford campus and the majority in Waterloo, so there’s no question that there needs to be diversity. However, it’s not our fault as candidates that more women were not involved in the candidacy process
• Michael – Absolutely! I have talked to more people that will be running as women or Brantford students. I have asked a lot of other people and a lot of other directors because more perspectives are important
• Seth – We absolutely need more diversity, however as candidates it’s mostly the responsibility of the elections committee. Even in this room I see a lot of diversity that’s a good start, but there should be more
• Tom – I’d have to agree with Mike. Women do bring a diverse perspective to the Boardroom as we think on different levels.  I was considering putting this in my platform, but didn’t know what the response would be
• Jon – I think you’d have to be some kind of moron to not think that we need diversity, however I think they SU is doing a lot in terms of advertisement. In the BOD, all of us are running independent of each other, but I will say we need more women
• Greg – Not to play devils advocate, but its extremely important that we have diversity on the board but at the same time the fact that we’re all men, doesn’t mean that we can’t be effective. Gender doesn’t matter as much as you might think.
• Kyle – I don’t think diversity necessarily makes better decisions. We are a BOD so we can make better decisions on behalf of students. Yes I believe we need more diversity, but we also need to market ourselves better so that we can have more diversity in the future.

-          What has been your biggest contribution to the Laurier community, for those re-running could it be outside your BOD experience

• Michael – It has been getting involved and giving up my time. In 1^st year I was part of Habitat for Humanity, Xellerate, Foot Patrol, and this year been a secretary of the BOD. Being involved, staying involved and encouraging others to get involved as well
• Seth – I would say taking part and having others take part. I’m involved in house council to try and get my residence involved. It’s had a big impact on me and given me an opportunity to get to know a lot of people. Through clubs, committees and the Sigma Chi fraternity encouraging others to come out
• Tom – I’m trying to make my biggest contribution to Laurier right now. I’ve looked into clubs and tried applying as an executive, but you’re not looking at all of WLUSU, but looking at a small fraction. If elected this would be my biggest contribution
• Jon – My biggest contribution is Foot Patrol. Every single night, I’ll be walking different individual for four hours and meeting and talking to different people
• Greg – I’m proud to be part of the Laurier community. One of my biggest contributions is part of my fraternity. Sigma Chi is a philanthropic organization and I have had the honour of representing Laurier at conferences across North America and it has been a pleasure.
• Kyle – I do my best to get involved. I’m also a member of Sigma Chi and am active with the young liberals association at Laurier. I think it’s important not to over extend yourself and to focus on one area to do a better area there. One of my biggest contributions was to be a student and focusing on getting a good education
• Chris – Outside of the Board I’m involved in different clubs and am the VP of the Arts Student Advancement Program where we fund different trips, conferences, etc. I would also say my spot on senate has been a great way to contribute to the school, especially Brantford.

-          Do you have any comment as to why the rest of the candidates aren’t here to represent themselves

• Seth – I’m disappointed with the dedication of the other candidates. A lot of them left it to last minute, maybe they’re not taking seriously. Maybe they are and they had other commitments, but these are the people that came here today and I’m happy to be one of them
• Tom – We only have 13 candidates right now with more applying today. But we don’t know what the schedule is of the other candidates, so we can’t judge them. While maybe they want to take the time, but they can’t risk their student life.
• Jon – I think it’s important that all of us are here. I think that the people who aren’t don’t realize the importance of this event right now because gauging the importance of Brantford’s opinions is crucial.
• Greg – If other candidates had prior candidates had other commitments, they would have sent regrets. We’re the ones who are here, we’re the ones who care
• Kyle – I don’t want to speculate, but the reason I am here is because I truly believe that Brantford is part of the Laurier community and it’s too bad that there aren’t more directors here but that’s sometimes how it is
• Chris – I feel that if you’re running in an election, you should do election events. I’m missing classes today because I feel that Brantford is important. I know that form some other candidates that aren’t here, they didn’t know enough about Brantford to come and make a presentation to Brantford students. I feel it’s important to make it out to all the students at Laurier.
• Michael – My stance is the same as last year. I’m not here to bash any of the other directors. I would beseech that no one assume that they’re not here because they don’t care. It’s unfortunate when people draw conclusions about why you aren’t there. I’m here because I don’t mind missing class and don’t mind coming down to talk to students and answer questions.

-          Heard a lot about BCC and BOD connecting through emails – it wont work because of the way our campus is far away. What sacrifices will you make out of your day to have the two hours to be able to converse with the beef studs?

• John: willing to sacrifice time, whatever is needed to commit, the BOD will take up a lot of time
• Greg
  • Confused about question
  • Beef is hugely important. I have seen the communication struggles. Will make the commitment to come and see the issues
• Kyle
  • WLUSU is his top commitment
  • Going into next year, Brantford will stay in my mind as usual
  • Wouldn’t sacrifice missing class, enjoys the academic side
  • Anything else, he’s willing to sacrifice
• Chris
  • Willing to put the time in, shown through showing up today
  • Willing to miss class to have a more hands on approach in Brant
• Michael
  • Make time to do things he doesn’t plan on in the beginning
  • Will work around his schedule
• Seth
  • Always a busy person
  • Through campaign process, realize that BOD will take up a lot of time, huge commitment, the BOD will my primary focus
  • Beef is ½ of WLU, so we should focus on that
• ??
  • class first
  • Virtual comm. Not enough, will commit to listen to thoughts and opinions

-          Closing Statements

• Greg
  • Thanks for coming out. Said all I can say, clear on where he is on issues, will be around all day, vote Greg! Willing to speak after to students
• Kyle
  • Restructuringof organization
  • Continue with quality control
  • Market research results – working with the BOD next year
  • Loves to come to Brantford, been here few times
  • Pledge to be here more often
• Chris
  • reelection
  • more info to check out candidates pages
  • Your union! Important to vote
  • encourage friends not attending today to made the educated vote
• Michael
  • Care about speaking, to students,
  • Make the educated vote.
  • Don’t be swayed by words, but vote based on the action they can take
• Seth
  • Platform: accessibility, action, accountability
  • Accessibility key to Brantford, as it’s the one that is lacking
• Tom
  • came here not understanding Brantford problems and has left today with a better understanding of them
• John
  • We’re all here because we care, and reality of it we’re facing great student apathy
  • Personally, 90% of studs don’t know or care what’s going on, has taken as much effort to inform studs about the elections

-          WLUSP Referendum

• Liberal arts students are asked to think critically about the world around us, consider the options
• What would happen if we started saying yes to things? Accept and embrace things,
• Consider and vote yes
• WLUSP as a whole – 75cent per student per course (up to 4 course)
• Cant buy chips or pop
• Apathy of students – Stud pub fill in the gaps for this, WLUSP is asking the questions that students don’t have the time to do this, this increase will help them be accountable to us
• See the good, bad and ugly for student publications (misspelled words)
• Opened to all students of all disciplines – heart of a multi disciplinary
• Put in to practice what we say we believe in as a multi disciplinary school

-          Where is this need coming from?

• In the middle of a lot of new things, the money is going to go towards continuation to Sputnik, Carnegie, and Radio Laurier considering to coming to Brant
• Goes towards training to learn to serve students better

-          Any student can be involved in student pubs, student pub became a way for many to learn about campus and develop a sense of community within Brantford.

Greetings fellow Laurier Brantford students! I am Sue Mathews and I am running to be elected as one of your Brantford Campus Councillor. I am currently Book Buddy Executive for Laurier Students for Literacy, Vice President of Laurier Brantford Diversity Club, Secretary for Laurier Brantford Student Alumni and Go-Team leader for 2008-2009 Orientation Week. I was also Vice President Liaison for Brantford Residence Council With all these extracurricular activities under my belt, I have grown into being an effective leader who always strives for the best. Being your Campus Councillor means that I not only representing the voice of Laurier Brantford students, but serve the students to its fullest potential and make their university experience one to remember.

Cameron McGregor:

My name is Cameron McGregor and I am a third year Concurrent Education student.  I am currently completing my second year as a Residence Life Don, which has been an extremely rewarding experience for me.  My contribution to the Laurier community encompasses activities with first years, providing a safer community through Foot Patrol and close ties with the Special Constables and attempting to meet the needs of an ever diversifying school community through the Laurier Brantford Rainbow Alliance. I feel becoming a Brantford Campus Councillor will provide me with the opportunity to further the gains in safety, diversity awareness and programming seen on the campus this year, resulting in a better Laurier for all.

Nick Savage:

For the school year of 2010 to 2011, my platform surrounds the notion of getting the ball rolling on a more prominent Brantford campus.  This requires the connectivity and community of the campus and its relatives. My actions would include connecting not only both campuses, connecting with Nipissing Brantford, considering the plethora of Concurrent Education students. Through these ideas and ensuing actions, I feel Laurier Brantford can become a more powerful community than it already is. As a student filled with passion for the campus, I want others to feel the same, and to look at their time at Laurier Brantford as a life shaping experience. Laurier Brantford is the fastest growing campus in Ontario, and I feel that I can help unleash its potential.

Courtney Skye:

I believe that the students that attend this Campus are the future leaders in their fields. As a Brantford Campus Councillor, I will work to ensure that the while attending WLU, students have the best possible university experience. I believe that the students at our campus deserve to feel like Brantford is their home. I want our campus to reflect the amazing talent that we have here, and as your representative to WLUSU and the Waterloo campus, it will be my responsibility to ensure that the needs of students at our campus are met fairly, but also recognizing our special requirements as a growing campus in a unique city.

Amanda Thomas:

If elected as a Brantford Campus Councillor, I will actively work to find out what is important to the student body using tools like open forums, surveys, suggestion boxes and the open door policy. I will make every effort to ensure that suggestions are acted upon. I plan to promote the student unions’ visibility on campus so that everyone is well informed and has the opportunity to get more involved in university activities and the Brantford community through outreach programs. For a growing campus we need better services and facilities. For example, a variety of healthy meal options and an improved recreation center, which are some of my priorities. I would strive to build a SAFE, DIVERSE, EQUITABLE and SUSTAINABLE campus.

The meeting will be going through the nomination and campaign packages to explain the rules in-depth. It will be held in the Student Center boardroom at 10:30 PM.

See you there!

Last Friday when the big hub-bub started I predicted that by the middle of this week ‘Toly and Ty would be famous (within reason, of course). This indeed has turned out to be the case. Over the past few days a substantial number of hits to this blog have come from people searching “Tyler Handley”, “Anatoly Venovcev”, “Laurier Freethought Alliance”, “Laurier atheist club denied”, and the like. I can only assume that the same is true for most or all of the other blogs that posted on this story. And as presumably most of us figured would happen, the cyber-rumble spread to the WLU campus. Check out the current issue of the university’s online newspaper, CordWeekly, to get a campus perspective of this tangled affair.