By Natalie Sit
It’s a safe bet to say SU VP Op-Fi Robbie White is the best VP the SU has right now. He’s organized, intelligent and knows what he’s doing. This is good considering the SU has an $8 million budget and a huge loan to repay, not to mention all that interest.
White has accomplished most of his election promises, and most importantly, he’s kept Safewalk alive even though some wanted to cut it. White’s hands-off with the clubs, an approach different from last year’s VP Op-Fi, and it allows the Clubs Coordinator to do his job.
As for CJSW and NUTV, they’re still sniffing around for an operating agreement with the SU. Also, White promised he would help them fundraise. While he did implement Change for Space for NUTV (which only raised $100), there isn’t much fundraising CJSW besides their annual funding drive. These two media outlets need major bucks to move from their currently hellish offices in the bottom two floors of MacEwan Student Centre.
The Op-Fi commission seems pretty functional. One commissioner says White is pretty hands-off and doesn’t nag. Currently, his commissioners are reviewing three SU levies each. However, we haven’t heard anything for a while, so perhaps some nagging would be in order.
Perhaps one big complaint of White is his lack of a big project–but it’s not like the guy hasn’t tried. He wanted some food vendors in MacEwan Student Centre to discount their food when a student brought his own Tupperware container. However, there’s only four more months left in his term, so it’s too late to rectify the situation. This is unfortunate because White has the potential to complete a student-friendly project. As for the weekly ordeal that is SLC, White brings intelligence and important items for discussions such as solutions for the dying Health and Dental Plan. And he doesn’t make pointless comments. In other words, he’s a useful VP–a rare commodity these days.