Heather Wallace
Seeing as these things usually start off pretty boring let's get to the dirt. I am a highschoool drop out. I have no parents and I rely on a full time job, at good old ETS, and student loans to help me pay for my post secondary education. It has been a very interesting roller coaster ride to this place in my life, but I earned my spot here in this faculty and every day feels like I am one step closer to my dreams.
Since I began studying at the University of Alberta I have become more and more involved in the Students' Union and Campus Politics. I am a Political Science major with a French minor, currently in my 2 nd year of study. When I started out I was an English Major with a political science minor, you know how that goes, but my interest in international relations and the globalization and governance certificate led me to change to my major.
I have spent much of my “spare” time, in between school and work, this year volunteering as a Student Councilor and a General faculties councilor and that has given me valuable first hand experience as to how the elected bodies of the Student Union and legislative processes are managed. It also introduced me to a whole new and diverse group of students who are way too much fun and they have helped me balance out all the hard work with, what I would refer to as, “oodles” of fun. I may not be a “usual” or “regular” student, whatever that means, but my experiences make me realize how lucky I am to be here, and it's amazing to be representing my fellow students!!
Contact info:
What the heck do councilors do? I am an Arts Councilor so I will give you my perspective on what I have learned over the last 10 months as a representative. When I was elected last year I had no idea that council sat over the summer months! The 4 months of summer gave me some time to figure out what it really meant to be a legislator. I had some previous experience with Robert's rules of order and writing motions, but this year I really came to understand the way the process works. That initial 4 months involved a steep learning curve and I am glad I had that time to get a good understanding of the system.
After the summer months were over I knew it was going to be tough balancing a job and my studies and really make an impact on issues concerning students. A lot of the issues I found in council were internal reforms, like the idea of separating council (the legislative body) and The Executive (The Executive body) and sometimes it seems like we are wasting time on these things. I thought, “what does this have to do with students and how does it affect them”, and most importantly “how does all this internal stuff even impact on them?”” A lot of the stuff we do seems to only effect council itself, but the decisions we make really do impact on students and the way we work can also help insure we are representing the student's in the most effective way. The better council works the easier it is to get things done for students.
Boring right? Yup, and a lot of time council can be boring, dealing with day to day internal stuff, but at other times it can be really interesting and exciting. This, I would argue, comes from the people on council. They are some of the funniest, creative and interesting individuals I have ever met and I thank my lucky stars that I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with them. Seriously, they have taught me so much about the campus and the way to make motions and get things done.
How do we get stuff done…that is the big question! I have brought forward motion in council regarding the Universal Bus Pass and a motion regarding the way the Student's Union deals with political advocacy. Basically I work on the motions then council decides if they think we should move ahead with them. It is an incredible process and many of the motions are worked on with input from other councilors in other faculties, or by committee, and they are really a group effort to get what is best for student's. It becomes a collaborative effort and that way everybody has an opportunity to amend the motion and then we all vote on it. This can be a long process for example my motions will most likely take another month or so to come to vote in council, and I introduced them about a month ago.
The other side of council is the communication side of council. The Student's Union does a lot of stuff that they need volunteers for and Councilors are not obligated to volunteer. You see I thought that would be what we did, but it really isn't. Instead I volunteer to work on the campaigns, this year we have had two major campaigns, and of course WOW, and other events. I have found myself flipping burgers or pancakes or talking to students about tuition and bill 43. This has been a lot of fun because I actually get to meet the many people who are at those events, but it is not what councilors are expected to do. I do a lot of classroom announcements in the hopes of getting feedback from the classes on the decisions we make and the events the SU organizes. This helps to fulfill the minimum of 4 hours of outreach that each councilor must perform each month.
A big part of the system is the committee system, and this was really confusing when I first started. There are a plethora of committees, and I currently sit on six. Now that may sound like a lot, but really they only meet once, sometimes twice a month and that is really where the decisions are made and I think it is important to sit on some of these meetings. In the summer I tried to go to as many of the committee meetings as possible, so that when somebody referred to them I would have a good idea of who is on the boards and what they do.
I hope that gives a basic overview of what I have been up to the last 10 months and shows what it is your council is up to. If you have any questions about council feel free to contact the Speaker:
To contact all Arts Councillors at once, email them at arts@su.ualberta.ca
Other Arts Councillors
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Arts Student Councillors