The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) is a council composed of a body of students elected by their peers, who tasked with running the Acadia Students’ Union (ASU). The SRC meets every Wednesday at 5:00 PM in the Beverage Forum located off the Michener Lounge in the Students’ Union Building (SUB). Each meeting is open to the public and students are welcome to attend meetings to learn more about the decisions being made on their behalf.
Council met this week in order to hear ambitious and creative project proposals from each department. Needless to say, the meeting commenced with spirits high and ideas flowing.
Advertising Events
Council received feedback from the student body which informs the council that the many fun and new events that have been planned for this semester do not have enough advertisement; therefore, students who may have been interested in a certain event are unable to attend. Current advertising includes council members posting updates and information on events to social media. Feedback revealed the effectiveness of this method may be inadequate due to some posts being private and students not always following the particular council member who posts. On the other hand, council members pointed out weekly emails are delivered to students’ school email addresses informing them of upcoming events. In response to that point, often students are notified too close to the event and are unable to attend due to late notice.
There was a brief discussion regarding an event calendar that was available to all students and updated regularly, and suggestions were flowing about adding the theoretical event calendar to Acadia’s ACORN page in an effort to make it more accessible to students. The SRC has set a goal to send in the details of events early enough that each student will have plenty of time to add it to their busy schedules.
Arts Senator, Science Senator and Professional Studies Senator Project Proposal
Science Senator Nicole Kirkpatrick informed the council [RM(6] of an opportunity for Acadia students where they can take the MCAT, LCAT and other tests on campus. The plan was discussed alongside Arts Senator Paige Stewardson and Professional Studies Senator Cassidy Churchill. The three senators included in their plan that they would be surveying the student body to gauge which exams students are interested in taking. There will be more details to come (depending on how many volunteers are able to assist with the long shifts during testing) but as of now, testing was proposed to happen on March 7th and 8th, or only March 8th.
Sustainability Representative Project Proposal
Sustainability Officer Max Abu-Laban shared his upcoming event, “Talk to Me About Climate Change”, with the council. The event will be a student body discussion about climate change held on the main level of the ASU February 4th from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The event is sponsored by the town of Wolfville, who has helped with posters and advertising and will generously provide popcorn and catering at the event.
Leading up to this event, Abu-Laban, along with other students who are passionate about the environment, surveyed people around the university town to gather what information people knew and don’t know about climate change. This event will be a big opportunity for an inspiring discussion among students about climate change. The goal is to start a dialogue about barriers and potential solutions to the very real environmental issues we face today. Abu-Laban states that drop-ins are always welcome – it’s just a big conversation!
Acadia Food Committee
The Acadia Food Committee is a group of students who evaluate the on-campus food, Wheelock Dining Hall. This committee is dedicated to overseeing food operations, ensuring good service for students and is always looking for ways to improve. In addition to current members of the Acadia Food Committee as of right now, they are looking to add one more member to sit on the committee.
Thoughts circulated through the council about the new member being available only to Residence Assistants (RA), either by recommendation from a Senior Residence Assistant (SRA) or by application. If the council does not lean towards recommendations for the position, President Kyle Vandertoorn suggested that an announcement be posted on the Residence Life Facebook page, since all RAs are qualifiable. The SRC agreed that RAs were ideal for the position as they all live on campus and eat the meal hall food themselves. Additionally, RAs will hear truthful opinions about the food directly from the students themselves, as most students adore their Ras and will be able to effectively deliver any student suggestions of what food to add/take away to the Acadia Food Committee meetings. While the discussion about adding a new member to the Acadia Food Committee was progressive, it has been pushed for further discussion to next week’s meeting.
Announcements
Council members wrapped up Wednesday’s meeting by announcing many exciting upcoming events!
First, Councilor Jonah van Driesum briefly addressed that a handful of Conservative Party leaders of the Federal Government have been contacted about visiting the Acadia campus, alongside a couple of Green Party representatives who have already responded with interest in visiting Acadia as well. Council is looking forward to updates in upcoming meetings.
Acadia Men’s Hockey Team is playing UNB at home this Friday (January 31st). Face-off is at 7:00 PM. Council encourages students to come out and support the Axemen! Students should also expect advertising for Nationals to begin around this time. This year Acadia is hosting Nationals in Halifax March 13th to 15th at the Scotiabank Centre. Students will have the opportunity to purchase a package that includes merchandise, transportation to Halifax and tickets to Friday’s game. If Acadia wins on Friday, those who have purchased packages will receive tickets for all of Acadia’s games for the rest of the weekend. For those interested, Acadia is “bringing Wolfville to Halifax” and Dirty Nelly’s will be Acadia students’ “meet-up” or “home-base” for the event.
