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| Photo: Selfie with President Samarasekera at her last General Faculties Council meeting in May 2015. |
Dear friends,
I hope everyone is having a
wonderful summer free from exams and stressful assignments. Once again, I would
like to extend my most sincere thank-you for electing me as your Science
Students’ Union Councillor and General Faculties Council Councillor for this
upcoming academic year.
This May has been a busy month for
Students’ Council. During our first meeting, I was delighted to finally have
the opportunity to meet all the awe-inspiring Councillors that I will have the
honour to work with for the next twelve months. Everyone is extremely welcoming
and enthusiastic on discussing student issues that concerns their constituents,
but also, they were incredibly excited to share their goals and visions for
Students’ Council this year.
On the business end of things,
Council’s first order of business was to appoint a new speaker. With his
experience working with the University of Alberta Students’ Union and knowledge
on the Robert’s Rules of Order, I am confident Mr. Saadiq Sumar will be an
competent and impartial Speaker that is able maintain order in Council meetings
as well as ensuring that all our voices are heard during debate. Aside from
this, at our first meeting, I was successfully appointed to sit on the Finance
Committee this year where I will strive to attend all meetings and contribute
to the committee as much as possible.
In the weeks following our first
Council meeting, I was given the opportunity to learn more about Student
Governance, and also, to get to better know some of the other Councillors at
GovCamp 2015. Throughout this three-day retreat, I attended numerous workshops
which I developed invaluable skills such as conflict management, asking
effective questions, and setting up realistic goals. In addition, during the
periods when there was no formal programming, I got to network with my fellow Councillors
where I was surprised to learn that we all share very similar visions on topics
such as student health and collaboration between our Faculty Associations. All
in all, Discover Governance did a fantastic job hosting GovCamp this year and I
strongly recommend all future student leaders to attend this retreat as it was
pivotal for me transitioning into the Councillor role since I am relatively new
to Student Governance at the University level.
After a restful week from GovCamp,
Council was back in full swing for our second official meeting where I was
successfully appointed to the Health Centre Advisory Group Board of Directors.
By being a member on this Board, not only will I be able to further expand my passion
on topics including the Student Health Services fee and student accessibility
to health services on campus, it will also allow me to better convey this
information to Council and students. Besides this, one of the most symbolic moments
of my time on Council thus far also happened during this meeting when all of
Council took the Oath of Office, in
which we all promised that:
I am not here for me.
I am here for the people that lent me their power in
exchange for a promise.
I will keep that promise to make decisions with their
interest in mind.
I will vote after knowing the facts, not before.
I will use Robert’s Rules for their purpose, not my
own.
I will oppose ideas, not people.
I will think before I speak, not speak just to think.
I will take the job seriously or not take the job at
all.
I will represent my fellow students’ interests, not my
own.
I am not here for me.
By taking this oath, I can truly
affirm that “I am not here for me,”
but rather, I am here to represent the thousands of undergraduate students who
has lent me their power in exchange for a promise that their interests and
voices will be heard.
As busy month drew to an end, the
last thing on my calendar was the General Faculties Council (GFC) meeting.
Although this was only my first meeting on GFC, it was also President
Samarasekera’s last meeting. All through the meeting, President Samarasekera shared
some of her most cherished moments she had while being on the GFC over the past
ten years at the University of Alberta. Additionally, I was also fortune enough
to learn more about what are some of the roles and responsibilities of the
different governing bodies at the University such as the Senate. Despite the
next meeting is nearly almost three months away, it will definitely be an
exciting one as there will be a new President and new Provost in the newly renovated
Council Chambers in September!
Thank-you for taking your time in
reading this, and I hope everyone is enjoying the fantastic weather we had been
having recently!
Best regards,
Alex Kwan
Students’ Union Councillor 2015-2016
GFC Councillor 2015-2016
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