Kay She is the raspberry long island iced tea of the Students’ Union executive; summery, fun and occasionally seen in sororities.
The vice-president external has the unfortunate situation of being in office during the provincial government’s erosion of the tuition fee cap and, despite her other initiatives, will be largely judged on her ability to represent student interests during this time.
Events like A Recession Era Education, and the online letter writing campaign, which has attracted hundreds of letters directed towards the government from U of C students in opposition to tuition changes, have been successful, but it’s unclear the level of involvement She had in them other than attending.
Revamping the SU Tent City event, one of Kay’s platform promises, has been a highpoint for her. Previously focused on affordable housing (a holdover from the low vacancy rates of the boom), She shifted the theme to student debt levels. Events like this are needed to increase the awareness of the student body to the external issues that affect them, as well as providing fodder for VP She when interacting with government officials.
The VP admits that secondary suites in the city, another campaign area, are not moving along quite as fast as she would have liked, and she is still in the process of setting up meetings with aldermen.
She has been described as not seeming as busy as other members of the executive, and it seems that SU president Charlotte Kingston takes point on many of the external related areas. The SU is currently planning for another awareness event at the end of January involving high-school students. I hope that She is heavily involved in this project, and pushes others on campus to energize students before the end of her term. The worth of She’s second semester will rest in being able to galvanize students on the issue of tuition increases.