The Brock University Students’ Union wants its members to know what it was up to this past year.
The students’ union (BUSU) has released its first State of the Union, a Coles Notes-like summary of accomplishments and undertakings during the past 12 months in BUSU’s core areas of student representation, student services, commercial operations and fiscal management.
Luke Speers, BUSU’s outgoing vice-president of finance and administration, said the report was written to improve communication and transparency. Until now, any reporting done by BUSU has been internal.
“We want the students who don’t know us to know what we’ve done for them,” Speers said. “It’s to show value to members for the fees we collect.”
Some of the highlights of BUSU’s year in review include opening a Subway in Union Station, establishing a food bank on campus, creating a research grant program, building a new website and overhauling the General Brock store.
Not every BUSU service or issue was covered in the report, keeping the document approachable and readable, Speers noted. Each member of BUSU’s executive contributed to the State of the Union.
The hope is that the report becomes an annual practice.
“It’s one of those things that has become a standard and more students’ unions are going to be doing them,” he said. “We’re just trying to make sure everyone knows what they should know.”
To read the report, visit BUSU online.
There’s a lot to be proud of, but there are certain errors of omission.
“Not every BUSU service or issue was covered in the report,” Such as …. The $20 per credit Student Life fee.. the SOTU failed to mention this specifically. The document states the $1144 average per credit number, which is now $1164. The content of the referendum and the promises that members of the union should expect to see next year for their $20 per credit, were not included. This is a warm and fuzzy, feel-good document.