Representatives shouldn’t abstain
A letter from Alex Vietinghoff, STU alumnus and former council member now turned recruiter was read at the students’ union meeting on Thursday. Vietinghoff criticized council members who chose to abstain from votes in the past few weeks and mentioned a previous chair who required explanations if people wished to abstain. “When someone abstains from voting, they are acting against their responsibility. The one thing that they have been elected to do. They are taking away the voice of the students they represent,” Vietinghoff said in his letter.
3,000 pounds of food collected through Trick-or-Eat
President John Hoben reported a successful Trick-or-Eat campaign. Students collected 3,000 lbs of food for the Fredericton Food Bank. A portion of the items collected were donated to the STU Campus Ministry food bank, located behind the chapel in George Martin Hall. The Prospect Street Sobeys donated a box of 1,000 bags to help move food items when the STUSU ran out of reusable bags and boxes.
STUSU donates to Movember
A motion to spend $100 from the charitable assistance line was passed by council on Thursday. The money is being donated to Movember, a cause championed by member-at-large Luke Robertson. Robertson is captaining the Harrington team and providing guidance to residence life and off-campus as they try to co-ordinate their efforts. Harrington Hall will host a “Mathletes and Athletes” party Nov. 10. Admission is $2 with proceeds going to Movember. Non-raiders need to be signed in by a resident.
Still no budget update
Vice president administration, Fin Mackay-Boyce, is still unable to present a budget update to council. At Thursday’s meeting he said the needed files are still with the accountant. According to the constitution, the vice president administration is responsible for providing a budget update to the SRC once per month, and a budget update to the SRC and the Membership once per semester.
STU gets good grades in Campus Freedom Index
St. Thomas University scored well in a study of free speech at Canadian universities.
STU was the only university to score an A in ‘University actions and practices.’ STU scored Bs in the remaining three categories: university policies and principles, student union policies and principles, student union actions and practices. “The STUSU receives high marks due to the fact none of its ordinances are sufficient to be used to censor a student or an organization. It however does not receive perfect marks due to omission of respect for and the protection of freedom of speech” reads the report by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The full report can be found at www.jccf.ca.
