Sustainability: Our ace in the hole

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Patrick Smith
Presidential Candidate

Picture it: a king, queen, jack, a ten, all suited, sitting in your hand. You sit with quiet anticipation. An ace will deliver the flush. Well, the students of the University of Manitoba are dealing the hand. On March 1-3, they will turn the river card.

So, “what is the ace?” you ask. Well, as students at the University of Manitoba, we are in an exciting position. Another minority government is in power, we have just entered into a well-connected lobby group, and we now have the opportunity to elect a well-rounded executive.

We are holding a good hand.

How do we turn it into a royal flush? Two words: sustainable policy. Applicable both internally and externally, students stand to make large gains in funding for and quality of education, as well as in the quality of student services by the careful planning and execution of sustainable measures.

Over past years, the University of Manitoba Students’ Union has become less focused on sustainability and more focused on appeasing the student body for the present. With our school receiving negative press regarding cutbacks and low rankings amongst our Canadian counterparts, now is the time to enact sustainable policy to secure our future as a provider of quality education and state-of-the-art student services.

On an external front, UMSU should focus on working with the administration to lobby for funding not only from both levels of government, but from the private sector as well. We as students must face the reality that the tuition freeze will not last forever. The quick fix, year-to-year patchwork of the tuition freeze campaign — while ever necessary — is not enough.

While continually lobbying to keep the tuition freeze, UMSU must aid the University of Manitoba administration in finding additional streams of income. Outspoken and strong in numbers, University of Manitoba students hold a great deal of power in lobbying for additional sources of revenue. Once the tuition freeze is lifted, UMSU will take pride in knowing that the administration will have no reason to raise our tuition to the levels it could if the freeze were lifted today. It’s the beauty of sustainable policy: it will ensure our future years down the road.

Internally, UMSU must take a careful yet progressive approach to expansion of business. With the ARAMARK contract set to expire in April 2007, all eyes are trained onto the future of the food service locations on campus. The bottom line is this: UMSU businesses should increase their presence as a food provider on campus. Here’s the catch: we shouldn’t do it just yet.

It’s unrealistic to say UMSU has the power to get rid of ARAMARK completely. It just wouldn’t happen. A large food service provider on campus is very economical for the administration. However, it is in all of our best interests to push for the decreased presence of ARAMARK on campus. Now with this extra space for food service locations on campus, bidding would open up. We propose to allow for an open-market system in which local businesses bid on the space. Eventually, we want UMSU to have that space.

Eventually, we would like to bid on these locations ourselves. But we need to develop a model that works first. Degrees (despite serving delicious and affordable food) is unprofitable. If elected, our UMSU executive would work with the management at Degrees to generate a profitable restaurant model. Then we can begin looking into other space on campus. The internal sustainable planning will ensure quality UMSU-run restaurants in multiple locations across campus, which will generate profit for even further expansion. It’s a common-sense, snowball effect.

I have given you two examples of how sustainable policy will create a vibrant, well-funded campus, and the possibilities are endless. Today, the University of Manitoba is at a crossroads. Over the next three days, students will decide which road they want our campus to take. Some say the tuition freeze is the only way to keep fees low. Some say we should move to create UMSU restaurant space immediately.

I say let’s help the administration bring in more funding while we fight to keep the freeze on. I say let’s perfect the UMSU restaurant model. With smart planning and careful deliberation, we will make huge advances from where we are today. We will have student services that are unparalleled by any university in Canada. I believe in a University of Manitoba campus that is sustainable and in one that plans for the future. I also believe a lot of students out there agree with me.

On March 1-3, turn the ace card. Turn the sustainability card. Turn the Smith/Barnby card, and choose a student union that will realize its vast potential.

Patrick Smith is the UMSU presidential candidate for the Smith/Barnby slate.