For some Victorians, the end of the winter semester didn’t mean much more than switching to shorts on the morning trek to campus.
While most of us were cottaging, camp counselling, or working whatever menial job we were able to get, there have been many student organizations hard at work in the summer months inside the Goldring Student Centre.
Members of VUSAC have been working on myriad student life initiatives over the course of the summer. Many of these initiatives stem from the campaign platform of the recent president-elects, Ben Atkins and Gabe Zoltan-Johan.
One of the tent poles of the duo’s platform when running for the presidency was to figure out ways that students can get involved in influencing and shaping how mental health and sexual violence are dealt with on campus. The summer saw the first manifestations of this increased involvement through focus groups run in collaboration with the Equity Commissioner, Claire Wilkins.
The groups aim to provide policy and protocol recommendations to university administration.
As policy is dealt with at the university administration level and protocol at the Vic admin level, the power of the groups is capped at providing recommendations to the respective administrations.
Despite these limitations, both were optimistic about the influence of the focus groups and their recommendations. “This is the only student-driven focus group on St. George campus devoted to these issues,” said Zoltan-Johan in an interview.
“There was a meeting where Kelly [Castle, Vic Dean of Students] came and members presented their solutions, suggestions, and complaints,” Atkins told The Strand. “The fact that she’s coming is definitely an indicator that they are going to be taking our recommendations seriously.”
The distinction between policy and protocol finds itself illustrated in the aims of each focus group. While UofT has its own sexual assault policy that Victoria College must conform to, Vic administration has a significant amount of control over how it responds to mental health issues.
It seems to be an improvement in efficacy almost too good to be true considering the disorganization and controversy that took centre stage over the work that VUSAC did last year. Clashes between the judiciary— which comprises the president and various vice-presidents—and the council led to inertia when it came to crucial decision-making.
“Last year, the judiciary was fragmented entirely, people would vote against each other, and decisions would be made without consultation with anyone else,” Zoltan-Johan said. This lead to a total breakdown in communication amongst the various arms of VUSAC, and a divided room when it came time to cooperate. Councillors would meet in private and vote as a block, which Atkins saw as a response to “a lack of management and leadership” from a judiciary that was too busy infighting to deal with these issues.
The disorganization came to a head when the year’s Arts and Culture commissioner was brought to impeachment over homophobic and racial slurs used in the office and then survived the vote, only to be brought back to impeachment at the next meeting. The second vote succeeded.
Both Atkins and Zoltan-Johan used this breakdown in communication as motivation for better relationships and stronger collaboration amongst all members coming into this year, and the laundry list of new initiatives being undertaken before the semester has even started illustrates the success of their efforts so far.
The myriad projects worked on over the summer include the development of a student credit union (common to American universities, notes Atkins, who spent his high school days in Washington D.C.), concerts in the Cat’s Eye (another campaign tent pole spearheaded by Zoltan-Johan), and a tidying of the constitution, including the introduction of a preamble that specifically enforces equitable treatment and behaviour. This is in addition to the many operational initiatives that take place every summer.
For those who want to get involved in Vic student politics, there will be eight councillor positions up for grabs come the start of the school year. They’re open to all Vic students, from Fresh Froshies to fifth-years, and the campaigning period begins September 21.
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