Your REC October and November Advocacy
Hello MRU Students,
It’s been a fantastic start to another year of studies. While you’ve been enjoying the frights of October or hiding indoors from the snowstorms of November, your Representation Executive Council (REC) has been advocating for what matters most to MRU students!
SAMRU’s REC team is comprised of four students, selected by the Student Governing Board (SGB) and elected by students to serve the interests of all SAMRU members (MRU credit students). From issues on campus all the way to the federal government, REC is the frontline for all things student advocacy.
President Tala Abu Hayyaneh (she/her)
Vice-President Academic Fiona Chetty (she/her)
Vice-President External Genri Liclican (she/her)
Vice-President Student Affairs Anisa Tilston (she/they)
Keep scrolling through to see how your REC team has advocated for you over the past two months!
Reading break advocacy
Ah, the debate as old as the break itself. Where should the fall reading break… well, fall? Some students prefer October’s current placement; others would prefer a November break in line with other post-secondaries in the province. That’s why REC wants to hear from you, SAMRU members.
REC and SAMRU understand that students have varying preferences regarding the timing and structure of the reading break. It is important to balance these preferences with other considerations, including academic requirements, institutional needs, and, most importantly, student mental health and academic needs. REC will work with MRU to continue gathering feedback to ensure that any changes truly benefit all students. To contact REC with your suggestions, reach out to readingweek@samru.ca.
Check out our previous REC blog to learn how to share your feedback with your Representation Executive Council. You can also catch up on the full history of the fall reading break in our blog here.
Emergency housing referrals
Emergency housing referrals are a lifeline for students facing various difficulties during their education. However, MRU had not yet developed a formal process for students to submit these requests. This has left students in a vulnerable spot when looking for any place to find housing when they need it most. However, REC’s advocacy has resulted in another method for students to easily apply for a referral.
Students will now be able to apply for Emergency Housing Referrals via multiple offices around campus, including directly through SAMRU’s Peer Support Centre (PSC) in Wyckham House. You can learn more about the process and book a consultation on the PSC’s page.
Street safety
For students who get to campus via the crosswalk at Richardson Way and Bishop Way, one of the biggest difficulties is deceptively insidious – simply crossing the street. Over the past couple of years, REC has heard from students and residents alike about the issues at this crosswalk, especially with drivers coming at blazing-fast speeds around the corner with little time to stop.
But thanks to REC’s advocacy and the help of MRU students and staff who submitted a pedestrian light request to the City, these struggles will be over! Construction has officially begun on a traffic signal at the intersection, with the project expected to be completed before the end of the fall semester.
Housing and budget submission
As the provincial government prepares its budget for the 2025 calendar year, REC and other student representatives across the city have prepared a number of recommendations as a pre-budget recommendation. From reinstating the Summer Temporary Employment Program to expanding Alberta Student Grant eligibility to include undergraduate students, your elected representatives have been actively crunching the numbers to make the best recommendations for students across the province as the pre-budget submissions come to a close.
We’re proud to announce REC’s Budget Proposals in collaboration with the University of Calgary Students’ Union and the Graduate Students’ Association of U of C. You can check out the full joint housing and budget submission on this page.
Advo Week
At the tail end of every fall semester, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), of which SAMRU is a member, hosts its annual Advocacy (Advo) Week. This event gathers President and VP External equivalents from post-secondaries across the country to highlight existing and potential future advocacy requirements of student leaders and representatives.
REC President Tala and REC VP External Genri traveled to the nation’s capital to bring up commonly faced issues by MRU students with their fellow university representatives. They also discussed advocacy actions on the issues impacting Canadian post-secondary students the most, including international student work-hour limits and student grant accessibility.
It’s SPoT time!
At the end of every semester, students are given the opportunity to share a review of the courses they’ve taken that semester with the University — with feedback including what they believe could be improved with the course, the relevance of the material assigned, and the teaching style of the professor. These are known as the Student Perception of Teaching (SPoT), and you likely have a couple available to complete!
SPoTs ensure students are happy with what is covered in their lectures and that professors provide an engaging and relevant course. However, some students have brought forward issues with the surveys. The first concern is tenured professors not making a SPoT available when a student would love to share their feedback, with the other issue stemming from the frequency of notifications to complete the surveys.
No matter your thoughts on SPoTs, REC wants to hear about your experiences and how you believe the student aspect of the surveys can be improved! You can send your complaints, concerns, or compliments on the process to representation@samru.ca for the team to bring up at their next meeting with the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.
REC members are employed full-time in their respective roles for a year, which means every day involves advocacy and representation happening behind the scenes — all dedicated to improving your student experience at MRU.
You can visit this link to learn more about your student representatives this year, along with updated position descriptions of each member of REC, position statements, advocacy priorities, and even information on how YOU could become an elected student representative! Applications for all four REC positions are open until January 31, 2025, so apply now! It’s an amazing experience with great pay and benefits.
To follow along with your REC team as they continue their 2024-25 terms advocating for you, stay glued to our socials @samrurec on X (formerly Twitter) and @samrubuzz on Instagram.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to email your representatives at representation@samru.ca.
