Your REC September Recap
Hello MRU Students,
Welcome back to campus! It’s been great to see new and familiar faces in and around Wyckham House as another academic year has officially begun. While you’ve been getting back into the swing of things and enjoying the beauty of a Calgary autumn, your Representation Executive Council has been advocating for what matters most to MRU students!
SAMRU’s Representation Executive Council (REC) is comprised of four students, selected by the Student Governing Board (SGB) and elected by students to serve the interests of all SAMRU members. From issues on campus all the way to the federal government, REC is the frontline for all things student advocacy.
REC President Tala Abu Hayyaneh (she/her)
REC Vice-President Academic Fiona Chetty (she/her)
REC Vice-President External Genri Liclican (she/her)
REC Vice-President Student Affairs Anisa Tilston (she/they)
Keep scrolling through to see how your REC team has been advocating for you since the start of the fall semester!
Standing up for Student Aid
Over the summer, the Alberta Government updated its requirements for post-secondary students to qualify for Student Aid — specifically revoking access if they switch to a part-time course load via withdrawal. This change was applied retroactively and with little public press, leaving many students unaware they could, or potentially already have, lost access to Student Aid Funding for the year.
REC President Tala, on behalf of SAMRU, signed off on a letter to the Minister of Education from various post-secondary student unions and associations across the province. The letter expressed the concerns these new policies will have on the student population now and in the future, and an urgent call to remove the retroactive changes implemented this fall.
Transportation advocacy
If you’ve been keeping up with our REC blogs over the summer, you might recall the team meeting up numerous times with the Calgary Green Line LRT operations team. At these meetings, your student representatives discussed the logistics behind the project, as well as highlighted the myriad of benefits the line would create for the student commuter population in the southeast.
However, in early September, pulled funding from the Alberta Government after budget disputes resulted in the city cancelling the transit project.
In response to this announcement, post-secondary student leaders from the Calgary Student Alliance, attended a rally at City Hall in support of the Green Line.
Tala was interviewed by The Sprawl in their piece about the cancellation of the Green Line, which you can read and listen to here.
The advocacy on behalf of REC and other groups across the City proved successful, as the Green Line LRT project has been revived and will resume construction!
Consent Week at MRU
National Consent Awareness Week on Canada’s post-secondary campuses occurs annually during the third week of September. This week is commonly referred to as the ‘red zone’, a time when gender-based violence on post-secondary campuses, unfortunately, tends to be at its highest.
Anisa, your REC VP Student Affairs, and Genri, your REC VP External, took to MRU Main Street alongside MRU Wellness Services to discuss the significance of a positive consent culture on campus. In addition, they debuted a new initiative they’d been working on, the Consent Colouring Book!
The book contains 12 colouring pages to help students relax and unwind, as well as helpful resources both on and off campus. You can pick up a physical copy at one of our student centres in Wyckham House or download the colouring book as a PDF on our Resources and Referrals page.
Meeting with politicians
While students were getting accustomed to their new classes, your student representatives were meeting with elected government officials bringing up the issues that matter most to students.
At the start of the academic year, Genri met with NDP MLA Samir Kayande to discuss student life affordability, health care, and post-secondary education. VPX Liclican also raised several critical issues affecting students, including student loan processing delays, Bill 18’s impact on student residences, the proposed parental rights policy, and the economic implications of Bill C-23’s amendments to the Fair Elections Act.
REAC is back!
Starting in July, REC began filling student volunteer and part-time positions to help with their advocacy work. These roles work closely with your elected student representatives through the Representation Executive Advisory Committee (REAC) to ensure that students have a voice in the key matters affecting them!
Under the guidance of your REC VP Academic, Fiona, along with Support from your REC VP External, Genri, and REC VP Student Affairs, Anisa, the group will represent students on 13 councils this year.
These vital volunteer positions include committees focusing on Tuition and Fees, General Faculties and Academic Policy, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Indigenous Representation.
Your REC team would know just how important these volunteers are, as Fiona and Tala have both served as REAC members in the years before their terms on the Representation Executive Council began!
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Every September 30th marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day in which we honour the survivors and those who never returned from Residential Schools in Canada. Your REC team released a statement calling for the decolonization of academia and highlighted the ways we at MRU can implement the requirements of the TRC Report. You can watch their statement below.
If you have any Indigenous representation or advocacy concerns, you can reach out to SAMRU’s Indigenous Ambassador at Indigenousambassador@samru.ca.
Welcoming you back!
As the new semester begins, it’s finally time to see the students we missed so much over the summer. We’re happy to have you back!
To help reintroduce themselves and highlight their advocacy efforts, the entire REC team met with new and returning students at the annual Open House, as well as the SAMRU Centre’s Grand Reopening in Wyckham House.
Didn’t get a chance to speak to them? No sweat! Your representation team will be attending dozens of events around campus this academic year. Keep your eyes on our social media to find out where they’ll be tabling next!
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, and advocacy priorities, and you could even learn how YOU could become an elected student representative!
To follow along with your representation 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.
