As we approach a new cycle of student union elections, I wanted to share some thoughts about how the University of Ottawa Students’ Union can better engage the student community.
Letters
Right now, I am the only young candidate in the OCDSB. We need a young candidate in every zone, and in every board. Dear Editor, On October 24, 2022, there will be a municipal election. At the bottom of the ballot you vote for a school trustee for one of Ottawa’s four school boards. A …
“Scholars must remain vigilant whenever academic freedom collides with diversity. The former can be compromised by EDI activists, who in turn will only be pacified once their demands to censor ‘offensive’ remarks or ‘dangerous’ ideas are met by university administrators,” writes University of Ottawa school of sociological and anthropological studies professor Stuart Chambers.
“In seventeen years of teaching at the University of Ottawa, I have found that a majority of students are optimistic … This year, students were unanimous in their despair. Climate inaction was on their mind … Students could not come up with any solution that they believed would get us off our disastrous track,” writes professor Thomas Boogaart of the University of Ottawa’s department of history.
“The reason in question is that if all parties in a discussion have the freedom to speak their ideas without punishment, this prevents proponents of reprehensible ideas from becoming martyrs,” writes Quinn Sam, a second-year political science and economy student.
“The current political system does not easily allow for homelessness to be an issue that gains much attention or commitment from elected officials. This is largely disheartening and reflects poorly upon voters and politicians but it also has the upside of partly keeping bad rhetoric out of the discourse,” writes Quinn Sam, a student entering his second year studying political science and economy at the University of Ottawa.
As I wrap up my undergraduate program at a large Canadian university, I would be hard-pressed to give you a coherent answer to an admittedly straightforward question.
What is university?
“As a soon-to-be graduating nursing student, I’ve come to realize that health sciences programs, although intensive, unquestionably fail to address humans’ interconnectedness with animals and nature, known as the One Health approach. Never once in my classes have we addressed how human health and well-being are intrinsically related to that of the environment,” writes fourth-year University of Ottawa nursing student, Maëla Séguin.
“We believe that the solution to systemic racism against Asian and other racialized communities must include solidarity across racial and ethnic lines,” write Tian Kun Chen, Tim Gulliver, Michelle Liu, Le Nguyen and Sam Yee
“We hope to promote a sense of connectedness and community amongst U of O students,” write Kora Upitis and Savanna Ma, two University of Ottawa nursing students.
“As the university advisor on mental health, I felt compelled to write to address some of your concerns,” writes Elizabeth Kristjansson, the University of Ottawa’s advisor on mental health.
“With over 90 per cent of North Americans admitting that they have gone to work while sick, the importance of wearing masks to prevent transmission and illness is a lesson learnt; to remember once the COVID-19 crisis is over. We should not have to wait for another global pandemic to remind us of lessons learned.” writes Rhyanna Melanson, a 2020 U of O graduate in biology.
“Your athletes and your community do not want your emails or your social media posts, they want you to take accountability for your actions (or lack thereof), and implement sustainable change in the form of policies and action. Your words without action are and will continue to be empty,” write a collective of members from the University of Ottawa women’s rugby team.
“What is happening at the University of Ottawa is not about white folk’s right to access reclaimed verbiage by communities outside of their own, nor about academic freedom, as we have been so led to believe. What we are collectively bearing witness to is about power; namely who can access it, and who must succumb to it,” writes Shadé Edwards, a second-year common law student at the University of Ottawa.
“How do we make progress from here at the University of Ottawa? If by terming it as a good crisis, Jacques Frémont is going to make transformational changes in the U of O landscape, I am all behind him, but if it is going to be talk, PR, and no action, then his legacy will be harshly judged by all generations,” writes Rony Fosting an international student at the University of Ottawa.
“How are you protecting me—how are you protecting us? I implore all of you to interrogate your activism: who have you been leaving behind? Who have you failed to hold space for? In your silence and complacency, whose lives have you decided no longer matter?,” writes Shadé Edwards a second-year law student at the University of Ottawa in the common law section.
“My concerns stem from this mental health crisis which has been exacerbated by the uncertainty of a pandemic; I worry about the mentalities professors have adopted in wake of all classes being shifted online,” says third-year U of O political science and history student Nelson Mahmoudi
“The University of Ottawa has to stop asking students to reach out about their mental health struggles when they won’t listen to what they have to say. Instead of being asked to reach out, students need an official system where they can share their experiences,” writes Kimberley Paradis, a fourth-year computer engineering student at the University of Ottawa.
A few months ago, I read former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power’s memoir, The Education of an Idealist. In it, she asked a question that has stuck with me since: “What is the nature of individual responsibility in the face of injustice?” writes second-year University of Ottawa Law student Nemee Bedar in a letter to the editor.
I find it commendable that students are taking the initiative to create new spaces to share experiences and demand action when it comes to mental health, but frankly it shouldn’t be their responsibility.
“The Senate, one of the most powerful governing bodies in our institution, should have cancelled classes this Friday. They should be tasking themselves with assembling a campaign aimed at promoting further education, organization, and collaboration to address this problem,” writes U of O student Lorin Clive D’Arcy Van Dusen.
Tiyana Maharaj, one of the founders of the UOSU, writes in response to the carding and arrest of a U of O student by campus security many are condemning as racist
We do not need a new student union to make student politics more democratic, transparent, and accountable.
Thursday morning the Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, Hon. Merrilee Fullerton, announced that tuition would be cut by 10 per cent, OSAP would be returning to the 2016-17 funding levels and the six-month interest-free grace period was eliminated.
The administration has a lot of questions to answer in the coming months and negotiations will be intense, but this needs to be readdressed with a proper overhaul of the SFUO. With only two executives currently serving, students need to come together to make sure that the SFUO does what it can to regain the trust of students at the U of O.
