UNBSU Successfully Advocates for Extended Library Hours

UNBSU Successfully Advocates for Extended Library Hours
November 1st, 2018

We are happy to announce that the Harriet Irving Library will be open until 3:00 a.m. as of November 12th (from Sunday-Thursday).  UNB Libraries and your Student Union are excited to share this announcement, that will enable provide a safe and welcoming space to study into the early hours of the morning! Our VP Internal Alison Balcom has worked especially hard on this initiative.

We appreciate the Libraries ongoing commitment to student success and adapting to the needs of students in 2018. This announcement is particularly timely, as the hours begin just after the Fall Reading Week, a Student Union initiative by VP Internal Herbert Bempah two years ago. 

UNBSU Releases 2018-2019 Strategic Plan

This year, we are focusing on our shared UNB story; what it means to be a University of New Brunswick student. Looking back at your time on this beautiful campus and remembering moments when you felt connected with not only your peers, but with our great university. 

The UNB Student Union has drafted an annual strategic plan that details all of the initiatives we will be undertaking throughout 2018-2019. This strategic plan is derived from the context of student life over the last few decades and drafted through years of talking to countless UNB students.  For the first time, we are excited to share this annual plan with the UNB community.

This year, we are delivering brand new large scale events, introducing new services, and delivering advocacy efforts that will benefit students. This plan has been created to make sure that everything that we connects to a greater vision and purpose: igniting engagement and spirit in the UNB student community.

To read the entire plan, go to unbsu.ca/aboutus.

UNBSU Statement on the Recall of Saudi Arabian Students in Canada

Last week, the Saudi Arabian government released a statement instructing all of their students studying at Canadian post-secondary institutions to cease their studies and leave the country.

Saudi Arabian students are now faced with having to pursue their education in countries other than Canada, and students will no longer receive funding to study at Canadian institutions. Saudi Arabian students have until the end of the month of August to leave Canada.

The announcement of this decision is unfortunate in many ways, particularly for students in the midst of their studies. For Saudi students already pursuing or starting their academic journey in less than a month, uprooting their studies to continue with scholarship elsewhere still poses great risk to stagnate their academic success.  As opportunities to apply and pursue post-secondary education for the upcoming academic year have already passed, Saudi students are now faced with a tremendous barrier.

UNB deeply values the diversity that is found amongst students from various backgrounds. The international community is an integral part of this campus; therefore, it is extremely unfortunate that 36 of our valued students- 14 from Fredericton and 22 from Saint John- will have to discontinue their studies here in Canada.

At the end of the day, regardless of ethnicity, nationality or creed, we are all students at this great university. We all roam this campus in the pursuit of an enriching educational experience - one that is free from disturbances. In situations like these that affect the diversity of our student body we, as UNB students, shall stand united.

-Your Student Union

Planning Student-focused Policy for Parliament Hill

Last week, UNB Student Union President Richard Du attended the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations’ Policy and Planning Conference at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where he represented UNB students.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is a union of over 22 student governments across Canada. With this joint voice on the national level, CASA is able to speak and advocate on behalf of Canadian students to the federal government. Recent CASA successes in 2018 include $10 million invested to expand financial support to Métis students and $5.5 million invested to address gender-based violence on post-secondary campuses.

At the CASA Policy and Planning Conference President Du discussed with other student governments and helped contribute to a yearly policy priorities list for CASA. Keeping UNB students’ best interest at heart, he also voted on important issues that CASA was going to advocate to the Canadian government in the upcoming year.

Atlantic student government representatives. 

Richard with the President of the UNB SRC (Saint John) Samuel Palmer.

Student government representatives gathered in a meeting to vote on policy priorities to bring to Parliament. 

There are four CASA conferences through the year. This conference follows the CASA Foundations Conference that VP Advocacy Simal Qureshi attended in May, where student governments were briefed on how to best communicate with the Canadian government and Members of Parliament (MP’s). The next conference will take place in October at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where Richard and Simal, along with other student leaders will meet with MP’s to fight for the issues that are on hand such as sexual violence on campus, increased experiential learning opportunities and international student support.

If you would like more information on CASA and/or their Policy and Planning Conference, please reach out to president@unbsu.ca.

Funding Announced for NB Student Experiential Learning

FUNDING ANNOUNCED FOR NB STUDENT EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

UNBSU VP Advocacy Simal Qureshi (2nd from left) pictured above at the announcement

Earlier today, Vice President Advocacy, Simal Qureshi, travelled to Moncton to attend an announcement made by The Honourable Roger Melanson, the Minister of Postsecondary Education regarding a five million dollar investment in experiential learning. This funding includes the establishment of the Student Experiential Learning Fund (SELF), which stems from over two years of work by the New Brunswick Student Alliance (NBSA). The SELF will be launched in the fall of 2018, and will be accessible to all students in New Brunswick.

The UNB Student Union is one of the four member schools of the NBSA and both Simal and UNBSU President, Richard Du, serve on the Board of Directors with the Alliance. This student organization represents over 12, 000 post-secondary students and focuses its efforts on creating an affordable and accessible post-secondary experience for students in New Brunswick based on policy development and advocacy work.

In addition to her role with the NBSA, Simal is also a part of New Brunswick’s Experiential Learning Steering Committee (ELSC), which is the primary body responsible for the development of this significant investment. This committee contains representation from the provincial government, all four publicly-funded universities in the province, the private and non-profit business sectors, and students. The ELSC has worked diligently since 2016 to ensure that New Brunswick institutions can offer competitive and comprehensive experiential learning opportunities for their post-secondary students.

In 2017, the NBSA approached the provincial government to discuss the creation of a student funding model that would be beneficial for students across all disciplines as often times, the majority of existing learning opportunities are within STEM and business programs. However, the commitment announced today will enable students to tailor experiential learning opportunities around their own unique field of study.

Experiential learning fosters creativity and growth, and has proven to promote on-the-job skills development, leading to an overwhelming positive impact on job acquisition upon graduation.

The SELF will reduce financial and quantitative barriers preventing access to experiential education opportunities. Any students wishing to pursue experiential learning opportunities in their academic discipline will be eligible to apply for up to $10,000 per annum in funding to cover the costs of travel, living, and material support.

In addition to the SELF, the $5 million investment also includes $500, 000 in targeted funding for Indigenous learners, and funding to cover the costs of mandatory work-placements in education, nursing, and nutrition programs.

Ultimately, this funding for experiential learning is inclusive as it ensures that students from a variety of fields and diverse academic backgrounds have access and can benefit from experiential education opportunities.  

For more information on the NBSA and the Student Experiential Learning Fund, please visit nbsa-aenb.ca. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Simal Qureshi at advocacy@unbsu.ca.

Who Will be the Next UNB President?

The university is in the process of beginning the selection for the next President and Vice-Chancellor of UNB. 🔴⚫

We are pleased to have our VP Internal, Ali Balcom, on the Joint Nominating Committee for the Office of the President. She will represent the student voice in a decision that shapes our campus. 

Our Executive Team has also met with the committee to ensure that we have a vibrant and energetic leader of our community. 

The committee wants to hear from you. Please complete this survey: https://bit.ly/2MhF458 to share your input and feedback on this important process. 

Updates on the Presidential Search will be available here: https://bit.ly/2MfgPEm

Laying Foundations, A Week at CASA's National Conference

Last week our Vice President Advocacy, Simal Qureshi, travelled to Ottawa to attend the CASA (Canadian Alliance of Student Associations) Foundations Conference.  CASA is a student-run, non-partisan and not-for profit student organization focused on improving post-secondary education through advocacy. This organization represents  22 student unions as member schools and approximately 270, 000 students across Canada.

As an advocacy organization, CASA recognizes that successful lobbying starts with research and creating policy solutions that the government can then adopt to help solve common student issues. Therefore, CASA researches the problems students are facing and works with members to develop and review policies. When working on such policies to improve post-secondary education, CASA has four principles: innovation, quality, accessibility, and affordability. After developing policies, CASA presents them to influential people within government, such as Members of Parliament, Senators, and Ministers.

Foundations was the first CASA conference for the new academic year and was primarily a learning conference. The conference was incredibly insightful for learning about CASA’s structure, governance, purpose, and history as an organization. Additionally, Foundations enabled members to have the opportunity to learn about government relations, policy development, advocacy training, and become familiar with several valuable organizations that hold potential for partnerships in the future. Finally, this conference provided valuable insight into how student organizations can work alongside each other to be effective advocates to the federal government.

Simal Qureshi, VP Advocacy, and Richard Du, President,  serve as the primary and secondary delegates, respectively, to CASA. This representation allows them to have the opportunity to sit in on CASA committees, such as National Advocacy, Federal Policy, and Member Relations. As a result, these UNB Student Union executives are responsible for sharing any updates on policies that are created and passed with UNB students. These students then have the opportunity to be involved in CASA initiatives such as the Get Out the Vote campaign, Sexual Violence Prevention campaigns, and Mental Health campaigns, for example.

You can find out more about CASA at www.casa-acae.ca. If you have any questions about CASA or its campaigns, please contact Simal Qureshi at advocacy@unbsu.ca

UNBSU Response to the Tuition Hike

Board of Governors passes Tuition Reset

This afternoon, the University of New Brunswick Board of Governors voted on the Tuition Review Task Force’s recommendation to approve the tuition reset for UNB students starting in the Fall of 2019. At this meeting, despite serious concerns from UNB faculty, staff, and students, as well as Senate’s recommendation to delay the vote until October, the Board of Governors decided to approve the tuition framework and proceed with the reset. This reset will drastically increase tuition for new UNB students across all faculties.

It is profoundly disappointing that the Board of Governors did not accept the Senate’s recommendation to delay the vote until October. The timing of the vote is particularly disconcerting as many students are away for the summer term.

Led by the incredible passion of students for affordable education, the UNB Student Union has worked diligently to reflect students’ unified disapproval of the proposed tuition increase to the UNB Administration. Our official memo to the members of the Board of Governors outlined several reasons for our opposition, including lack of student consultation, an inappropriate timeline, and the consequences for students having to bear the burden of balancing a deficit we did not create. Furthermore, the Student Union Town Hall enabled students to have their concerns and questions regarding the reset addressed directly by Vice-President (Academic) George MacLean.

On March 27th, with over 100 students present, student senators successfully passed a motion for Senate to officially oppose the tuition hike and strongly urge the Board of Governors to delay the vote on this proposal to October at the earliest, in order to continue student and faculty consultations.  UNBSU councilors also shared powerful testimonies expressing the personal implications of increased costs.

Earlier today, an email released by Dr. MacLean stated, “while the framework for the tuition reset has been approved, specific rates will not be ratified until next year’s budget is presented in the spring of 2019. The consultation process around rates will continue.” Over the next year, we will ensure that student voices are heard in these further consultations.

Over the past few months, UNB students from all faculties united on this important issue. We are empowered and encouraged by the unified efforts demonstrated by UNB students in opposition to the tuition hike. Our student voices resonated across our campus loud and clear, and we should be incredibly proud of this. Over the next months and years, we will continue to come together with the same resilient spirit on issues affecting our lives here at UNB.

- Your UNB Student Union

Copy(Rights) for Students

Yesterday, UNB Student Union Vice President Internal, Ali Balcom, spoke before a federal Parliamentary Committee to ensure educational materials are accessible and affordable for students.  

We ask for your support in student access to materials that enhance our education, rather than compromise our learning through increased costs that would inevitably be passed along to us.
- Ali Balcom, VP Internal 

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology (INDU), tasked with reviewing the Copyright Act, began its cross-country consultation process in Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 8th, 2018.  Of particular interest in the context of education is the fair dealing clause that enables students and professors to utilize minimal portions of Copyrighted materials for educational purposes without additional cost.

Following afternoon deliberations where numerous professionals, including UNB President Dr. Eddy Campbell, shared their institutional perspectives, Ali addressed the committee to share a missing perspective: that of students – the everyday users of Copyrighted materials, such as textbooks, course readings, and videos.

As the only student from New Brunswick, she emphasized that diverse sources and perspectives, primarily accessible digitally, are fundamental to a well-rounded education through their promotion of critical-thinking and dialogue. Furthermore, she shared a position that students are all-too-familiar with but often goes overlooked in discussions such as these: the financial burden that accompanies a post-secondary education.  

Drawing upon the recently proposed tuition hike at UNB and the already intense costs of pursuing a post-secondary education, she asserted that finances are a key factor in determining whether students are able to receive a university education. This was substantiated using data collected through TextBroke, a campaign previously conducted by the Student Union to understand the cost of textbooks and the potential for open educational resources; the results indicated that UNB students spent an average of $400 a semester on textbooks and 43% – nearly half of respondents – did not purchase one or more of their required textbooks. 

To maintain academic the integrity and quality expected at institutions such as UNB, we must ensure that our textbooks, readings, videos, and other course materials are accessible and affordable for students; our education depends upon it. 

If you are passionate about this issue or have any thoughts on this topic, please contact Ali Balcom at internal@unbsu.ca. 

What's in store for Winter 2018!

Check out all of our exciting Winter 2018 events, services and projects for UNB students.