Change to election bylaws
Philippe Ferland, president of the St. Thomas University Students’ Union, said changes to the union’s election bylaws have been finalized.
This includes changes to the warning system for disqualification. Candidates will now receive three warnings before being cut out of the race. It also includes a clearer definition of what constitutes a warning, Ferland said. The union has also changed its complaint system, which will no longer count as a warning.
These changes follow the complicated election last spring in which a candidate was found unlawfully disqualified, calling for a re-do of the presidential election.
Ferland said the union has also changed bylaws to state if someone is impeached from STUSU during their transitional period, they will not be allowed to carry onto the next term they were elected for.
This change comes about after the impeachment of an off-campus representative after he had been elected as a rep again for this fall.
No incidents during welcome week
Welcome week chair Morgan Matheson said the decision to lift the drinking ban a few hours earlier was a wise one.
Rather than allowing drinking to begin at 8 p.m., students were allowed to start after the paint fight at 4 p.m.
This allowed students to pace themselves before the social, he said, and no ambulances had to be called to any residences.
He did advise push the lift to 6 p.m. next year to allow for the mandatory house meetings after the paint fight.
Fall byelection coming up
Ferland announced the 2017 fall byelection will open for nominations during the last week of September. Campaigning and voting will happen during the first week of October.
STUSU will be looking for students to run for the Indigenous representative, an international representative, first year off-campus representative, first year residence, and two at-large representative positions.
International student health care
Vice-president administration Matthew LeBlanc said international students can apply for provincial health coverage, Medicare, before Dec. 13. They can then opt out of GuardMe or other forms with proof of insurance.
Sustainable development training
Vice-president student life Jimy Beltran is organizing UN Sustainable Development Training set for Oct. 21.
He said he expects between 250 and 300 students to attend and 120 tickets have been sold so far.
The sessions will include various workshops on topics such as media training, campaign management and public speaking.
Beltran also said the university has received $2,000 in SEED money to aid students interested in coming up with their own sustainable projects.
STUSU website resources
Vice-president education Brianna Workman said a number of “centralized community and on-campus resources,” including mental health and peer tutoring information, can now be found on the Students’ Union’s website.
Clubs and societies fair
The clubs and societies fair will take place Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in James Dunn Hall.
“It’s kind of a catalyst for student engagement, especially for first years,” LeBlanc said.
STU groups will set up shop, along with local organizations such as the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Centre and Ignite Fredericton.
