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On Jan. 14, the McMaster Students Union held its annual State of the Union in the student centre.
The State of the Union is held every year for the Board of Directors to update and inform both the full-time, undergraduate students that make up the MSU as well as the general population at McMaster.
"Our mission statement is to draw into a true society, all undergrad students here at McMaster; so basically our job is to enhance the student experience at Mac," outlined MSU President Ehima Osazuwa in his opening comments.
In a way, the State of the Union is an avenue for the Board of Directors to highlight some of the key successes of the MSU over the past year. A few of the highlights noted by the BoD include an emergency bursary fund at $500 for any student, up to $12,000 in total, as well as several expansions to the management of the clubs system, including the addition of a second Clubs Assistant Administrator and the movement to an online booking format for rooms in Clubspace.
VP (Administration) Giuliana Guarna highlighted some of the important updates to MSU services during the past year as well, including the creation of new MSU service Maccess and the closure of MacGreen following the 2015-16 academic year.
Despite this, while the BoD have been successful in a number of initiatives, it's worth noting that some projects, including the Light-Rail Transit system announced for Hamilton, have been in progress for years.
The MSU Course Wiki is another project that has been in the works for several years and has experienced some delays in taking off, but VP (Education) Spencer Nestico-Semianiw noted that it is expected to launch over the next couple of months.
The MSU also remains financially healthy, generating over $13 million in revenue in 2014-15. From its day-to-day operations, the MSU continues to operate on a slight surplus of $60,000, and D'Angela emphasized the efficiency at which student dollars were being utilized.
"From our operations, we collect about $2.6 million in fees, but spend around $9.6 million in supporting student life through advocacy, programming, services, etcetera," explained D'Angela.
D'Angela also noted that a second Budget Town Hall would be held by the MSU during February. The Budget Town Hall is one of several platform points that D'Angela promised to introduce during his term as VP (Finance), and the upcoming Town Hall will be focused on gathering student feedback on the focus of future MSU budgets.
You can download a copy of the 2016 State of the Union here or view the Prezi below.
In-article Photo Credit: 93.3 CFMU
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Nichole Fanara
The Silhouette
The president and three VPs of the McMaster Students Union delivered their annual State of the Union address on Jan. 26.
Under the stage lights of TwelvEighty, alongside president Matt Dillon-Leitch, were Alicia Ali, vice president of education, Duncan Thompson, vice president of finance and Katie Ferguson, vice president of administration.
The State of the Union address and accompanying 36-page document aimed to inform students about the current state of affairs in the MSU. Issues such as budget, clubs and on-going projects were discussed as a way of offering students a true understanding of where their money is being spent.
This year, the MSU aspired to show students early on that they could positively influence everyday student life at McMaster, exemplified through one of Dillon-Leitch’s first pilot projects, the extended hours of Thode library during the exam period. “The results were so quick, and to then see people actually using the library was phenomenal,” said Dillon-Leitch.
It was stressed that, because students contribute financially to the Union, students should be the primary beneficiaries. For example, the talk included an issue raised to Members of Parliament of how one is only eligible for OSAP if they have a minimum 60 per cent course load.
The forum outlined key issues surrounding university life at McMaster, followed by an in-depth review of three fundamental goals central to further development within the MSU.
High enrolment at McMaster is indicative of the University’s growing popularity as a school of choice for an increasing number of high school graduates, though such a trend comes with increased demand on the University to provide quality education and adequate space.
In keeping with the Student Union’s commitment to serve as a liason between students and the University administration, communication has been central to the process. While the MSU aims to maintain its online presence through social media, it has also successfully pushed for change to the University’s email system, changing from the MUSS (McMaster Undergraduate Student Server) to Gmail.
As part of the MSU’s goal to remain a student-centred organization, the Student Life Enhancement Fund has been better explored to derive as much benefit out of the resource as possible.
Under the umbrella of community engagement, students were surveyed about their views on the surrounding Hamilton community in an effort to bring down the barriers plaguing relationships between students and the city at large.
The MSU’s final goal as a representative of the student body aims to support the diversity of thought and culture that characterizes the McMaster community through support for various affiliated campus groups.
At the end, the floor opened to those in attendance for a question-and-answer period. Unfortunately, McMaster’s most vocal and active students didn’t do much to challenge the Union leaders.
Dillon-Leitch explained that he was “hoping for more questions.” He further expressed concern that “not all of the presidential candidates showed up, which is frustrating when you want to show them what they can do with the Students Union.”
