Fredericton transit bus pass
St. Thomas University Students’ Union vice-president administration Matthew Oram said the two-year contract with Fredericton transit for the STUSU bus pass is coming to an end. A proposal for the new terms for the bus pass must be given to the city of Fredericton by Wednesday.
The executive team recommended keeping the same terms for the new contract as the expiring one. The current terms have all STU students paying around $95, included in their tuition and fees, for a bus pass. This year, a COVID-19 clause was added to the contract, said Oram, which allowed some students not in Fredericton to opt-out.
Oram said if STUSU proposed an opt-out contract, where students could choose not to get a bus pass, the price per student could spike to over $175 and could go up over the years. He said if STUSU proposed an opt-in contract, where students could choose to get a bus pass, the price would spike to over $200 and could go up.
The discussion was opened to council. Tyler MaGee, STUSU’s sexuality and gender diversity representative, posed the argument that although the price would go up for an opt-in or opt-out system, the model would be better for students who have their own vehicle.
“As somebody who does have a car of their own, I’d be paying for a bus pass alongside the [University of New Brunswick] parking fees, which is already at $170 for a whole semester,” said MaGee.
One of STUSU’s off-campus representatives, Sydney Shelley, said as someone who didn’t get a car until her fourth year, she sometimes felt like a burden as a bus user, when some people didn’t need a pass but had to pay anyway.
She later said she wanted to look at the situation from all sides and wanted to know what the percentage of students using the bus looked like to see what would make the most sense for the student body.
Oram said he wasn’t sure of statistics yet since STU only recently partnered with the HotSpot app, but he said if STUSU went with the same terms of the last two years, there would be more data to look at after that contract expired.
STUSU president Sarah Kohut said another argument towards keeping the terms the same or an opt-in model is that when emergency bursary applications are received, they often identify that students will stop driving their cars when in financial need.
“They start taking the bus to save money on gas, to save money on car maintenance, stuff like that,” Kohut said. “When students do face financial struggles, they use [the bus pass] as an opportunity to save money and to put it towards rent [and] groceries.”
Indigenous Education and Awareness series funding application
St. Thomas University Students’ Union vice-president administration Matthew Oram presented a funding application from Leanne Hudson on behalf of the Indigenous Students Reconciliation Committee. The committee requested $500 for honorariums for their Indigenous Education and Awareness series guest speakers – $125 for each speaker at the third event and $250 for the guest speaker at the fourth event.
The motion was moved by Oram, seconded by the finance committee that met earlier in the week and nine members of SRC voted to approve the application while two members abstained.
The amount of $500 was approved to come out of the activities funding line.
Annual General Meeting Ad Hoc committee
St. Thomas University Students’ Union vice-president student life Kyle McNally said the STUSU Annual General Meeting is coming up where speeches will be given and awards will be announced. The awards will be announced on social media following the event as well.
McNally moved a motion to strike an Ad Hoc committee for the remainder of the semester. The committee will meet twice. The movement was seconded by STUSU president Sarah Kohut and approved by council.
Diploma frames
St. Thomas University Students’ Union grad class president Alaina Mejia said diploma frames are now for sale from the STU alumni association, but they could take up to four to six weeks to arrive from the time of ordering.
Grad class merchandise sales
St. Thomas University Students’ Union grad class president Alaina Mejia said 60 unique orders were received from the grad class merchandise sale.
Grad class Instagram trivia
St. Thomas University Students’ Union grad class president Alaina Mejia said Instagram trivia began on Friday with the opportunity for participants to win grad class merchandise. There will be a question posted on the stugradclass Instagram every day until March 25.
Alumni association board meeting
St. Thomas University Students’ Union grad class president Alaina Mejia attended the STU alumni association board meeting where she said it was announced that the association will be sending graduation gifts to all graduates this year.
Grad class social
St. Thomas University Students’ Union grad class president Alaina Mejia said there will be a virtual grad class social on March 25 at 7 p.m.
Budget town hall
St. Thomas University Students’ Union president Sarah Kohut said STU’s budget town hall will occur on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Vice-president education debate
St. Thomas University Students’ Union president Sarah Kohut said the vice-president education debate for the spring by-election, with candidate Sydona Chandon, is happening on Tuesday at 1 p.m. She said voting will take place on Wednesday.
Rigby Hall clothing
St. Thomas University Students’ Union Rigby Hall representative Jonah Simon said the Rigby Hall house committee met and decided on white and grey t-shirts designed by Trenton Augustine.
Emergency bursaries
St. Thomas University Students’ Union vice-president student life Kyle McNally said the emergency bursary committee approved two emergency bursary applications.
Community food smart orders
St. Thomas University Students’ Union vice-president student life Kyle McNally said he received five community food smart orders for April.
