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canada’s only Daily Student Newspaper • founded 1906
Volume 107, issue 18
Student voice to be heard at city hall Students to act as advisors on London city committees Iain Boekhoff News Editor Despite some city councillors wishing to keep the noise level from students down, they might soon be hearing from students a whole lot more. Last night, city council approved a motion to add students to council advisory committees as non-voting members. The motion amends the terms of reference for the committees so that eight students, four each from Western and Fanshawe, will act as advisors. Pat Whelan, president of the University Students’ Council, said students’ voices would be added into important city issues that affect students, like transportation. “Having students on these advisory committees will ensure that the voice of students is being carried in the decision making process, and showing city council is getting advice that is encompassing the needs and wants of students — which before this move has sometimes been easy to be lost due to the nature of student life,” Whelan said. Joe Swan, Ward 3 councillor, said that having students as a part of city council was a “Great idea and long overdue.” “The collaboration is another step forward in designing a city that students will enjoy during their studies and will foster the development
of a community in which they will have many more opportunities to apply their skills, be entrepreneurs or contribute as valued members of our workforce,” he said. The proposal is a joint effort from the USC and the Fanshawe Student Union in an attempt to get students more engaged and have a bigger role in the city. Whelan said the city is missing an important voice in their decision-making process, and having students involved in city council builds a stronger relationship between the city and students. “Students make up a huge portion of the city population and they can sometimes be treated as visitors to the city, and so this is a great statement by city hall and city councillors to say that students are more than visitors,” Whelan said. “They are citizens of London and their voice is sometimes missed and this is a great way to ensure that it’s being heard loud and clear.” The new framework will make students’ voices heard on a regular basis and will formalize their role within the city, according to Swan. “Students already participate in many forums and decision making processes but to formalize a channel with consistency and high impact will be of benefit to the community,” Swan said. Whelan concurred, saying that issues like transportation can benefit from having a student voice.
Kelly Samuel Gazette
“When they’re talking about transportation in the city, having a student in the room can help provide context about the specific interests of students,” Whelan said. It will be up to the respective student councils to decide who their representatives to city council will
be, unlike past attempts at involving students where the city would appoint students. “The student council is best suited to determine the individuals to be their representatives and council should determine the number and structure of their valued
input,” Swan said. Whelan said the student representatives from Western would be a mix of commissioners, coordinators and councillors and the process of selecting them will begin soon.
New transcript to record student involvement Hamza Tariq Gazette Staff
Logan Ly Gazette
Western students will now have the opportunity to formalize and record their co-curricular involvement with the newly launched Western co-curricular record. By allowing students to record their co-curriculars online, this program will give students a formal document, similar to a transcript, to prove their involvement to potential employers. The program was coordinated by Dave Cano, community engagement coordinator at the Student Success Centre, in collaboration with representatives from the University Students’ Council, the Student Development Centre, housing, campus recreation and the affiliate colleges. “WCCR provides a framework
that students can use to better convey the message when talking to recruiters, or in their applications to professional or graduate schools,” Cano said. “It also provides a tool to plan ahead their co-curricular involvements throughout their academic studies.” The record will only be available for co-curricular activities and not extra-curricular activities. The distinction is one between on-campus and off-campus involvement — most involvement opportunities on campus would count as co-curricular. However, volunteering at an offcampus charity, for example, would be as extra-curricular and would not count. The WCCR will start this year meaning upper year students cannot add co-curricular involvement from previous years. Citing an example of the
usefulness of the WCCR, Cassie Anton, student engagement programs coordinator at the Student Success Centre, explained in previous years students did not call themselves a soph on their resume out of concern their employer would not know what that entailed. However, the WCCR can change that. “The WCCR not only has the position and a validator that can confirm that you were a soph, but it has a professionally written description of what a soph does and it really provides some backbone and structure,” Anton continued. Adam Smith, vice-president student events for the USC, lauded the launch of the WCCR. “It’s very exciting that Western will now be officially recognizing the work of involved students and volunteers as part their overall education,” he said.