The University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (UWSA) is buzzing with upcoming activities and initiatives designed to make campus a brighter, friendlier place, while maintaining its core directive of being a strong advocate for the student body. 

While the Association’s budget has shrunk from previous years, UWSA president Rorie Mcleod Arnould maintains it’s business as usual for 2014-15. 

“Tight budgets create difficult situations, but can also provide opportunities for evolution,” he says.

This evolution is all about streamlining services and eliminating redundancies, while ensuring that core supports remain available for students. 

“Initiatives such as the Womyn’s Centre, LGBT* Centre, the food bank and others form an integral part of our organizational fabric and we have no intentions of making alterations to those frontline student services,” Mcleod Arnould says.

The start of the school year is always a hectic time for both students and the union. Orientation week festivities have wrapped up, but the UWSA will be hosting more events in the near future, and throughout the year.

The re-opening of the newly renovated Hive on the main floor of Lockhart Hall is one such event McLeod Arnould is excited for. 

“The space will be available for use by student groups, or as an open student lounge throughout the day,” he says. In addition, the Hive will also feature a live broadcast of CKUW, the campus radio station.

The UWSA’s Student Advocacy Centre is expanding its services in order to better facilitate requests for guidance from students. This includes support for students facing academic discipline, assistance in writing appeals forms, and ensuring faculty and administrators are following proper procedures for such matters. 

The UWSA is also currently involved in discussions with officials regarding the implementation of the Winnipeg Transit U-Pass. The pass would enable students to have unlimited city-wide use of the transit system at a reduced price, the cost of which would be wrapped into tuition fees. The program is set for an October referendum, and if passed, would be a significant victory for the UWSA according to the president. 

“If successful, [it would] mark one of the greatest achievements of the student movement here in Manitoba,” Mcleod Arnould says.

The Hive is scheduled to open Sept. 19, 2014

Published in Volume 69, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 17, 2014)