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CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014
VOLUME 107, ISSUE 53
Budget changes for the USC Committee talks BPC, USC exec push for budget structure changes
commercialization
Jeremiah Rodriguez NEWS EDITOR
Richard Raycraft NEWS EDITOR
Changes are on the horizon for the next year’s University Students’ Council budget. The USC executive is revamping the way budgets will be presented in the coming years, with an aim to making the annual document more transparent and easy to understand. The most progressive proposal is the budget shifting from a unitbased to service-based format. Instead of current broad designations for funds, the budget will have specific descriptions for where student fees are going, such as a subsidy to a club or student room booking. “We’ve gotten better by asking specific questions about how we find efficiencies. Now, you’ll see a list of services and its associated cost. Then, a councillor can weigh what students want, how much are they willing to pay and is that good value for them,” Pat Whelan, USC president, explained. “Sometimes you may want the service but you don’t want to pay that much for it.” The USC executive is projecting that the switch will increase transparency of current student programs. This change is intended to guide how future student governments evaluate whether to cut, maintain or expand campus programs. The City of London and other municipalities have recently moved towards the same budgeting method. The USC is also proposing a transition from one year to three-year rolling budgets. The change was spurred on by the self-admittedly dismal record of the USC in reacting to long-term changes to operating budgets. With the new changes, the executives hope, councillors will be in a stronger position to anticipate and adjust to budget changes such as fee increases or expansion
Questions are being raised about the future of Big Purple Couch and the University Students’ Council’s commercialization policy after Thursday’s meeting of the Student Outreach and Communications Standing Committee. Big Purple Couch, an online talk show and TV media outlet owned by the USC, received the most discussion of any topic at the meeting, the general consensus being that it lacks clear direction or relevance to students. “Our number one priority for BPC is to ensure its existence as a positive volunteer experience for students,” said Jasmine Irwin, vicepresident communications at the USC, commenting that she couldn’t offer specifics on plans for changes at BPC. She did add, however, that plans to re-brand BPC to Purple TV, which The Gazette reported in October, had been cancelled. Among the most prominent issues discussed at the meeting was the USC’s policy on commercial activity and advertising. Irwin elaborated on its policy and future. “For commercialization we want to make sure that there’s an adequate conversation at council to look at the line of the budget that’s dedicated to commercial activity,”
Mike Laine GAZETTE
to a department by the Western administration. The direct effect would cushion fee hikes to students by spreading them out over a long timeframe. “It’ll give council a much better timeline for students’ fees. The idea is for [the USC] to see what fees might look like, so students can have a stronger idea how to plan for their own finances in the future,” Spencer Brown, USC vice-president finance, said. The last frontier for the USC budget is its push for stronger student advocacy which includes creating a program for over 200 part-time students to understand how transferable their skills are in the job market. Part-time students work in facilities such as Western Connections, food
and beverage as well as Creative Services. The advocacy push would include further development to the new Volunteer Services Department which is involved in the selection and retention of the USC’s volunteers who receive honouraria. “It’s about really investing in our student development part of the organization — it’s what separates us from other advocacy groups by showing the learning outcomes to their decisions for work and how to get to the next stage of their personal development goals,” Whelan said. The budget itself is still being formulated and will face hurdles from several policy committees and public scrutiny before being ultimately voted on by council on March 26.
she explained. Issues over commercialization came to a head this year with some of the more elaborate displays in the UCC atrium. In particular, many students felt a Victoria’s Secret PINK display in October went too far. The display generated a significant controversy at the time, eventually prompting the USC to release an apology in early November. Irwin explained that the display was a break with more traditional marketing. “They’re both technically commercial activity but they have different ramifications for students. So I think it’s a hot-button activity this year because students are being shown different commercial activity than what they’re used to, and trying to figure out what they want the standard practices to be for that kind of activity,” she said. Emerson Tithecott, USC senatorat-large and chair of the committee, explained the committee’s role in a written statement to The Gazette. “The Student Outreach and Communications Standing Committee enables Western’s elected representatives to bring the ideas and concerns of their constituents directly to the University Students’ Council as they strive to enrich the university experience by working to improve our student government’s communications strategy,” he said.
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