UMSU Council Notes

Presentations at meeting gear up UMSU for upcoming events

JENELLE PETRINCHUK STAFF

Aside from the usual reports and business at the UMSU Council meeting on August 31, three presentations also took place.

Jayne Keller and Laura Payjack, the special events coordinators for Shinerama, presented their case to the UMSU council by speaking of the event’s cause and what they are hoping to achieve this year.

Shinerama is an annual event that raises money for people suffering from cystic fibrosis. The two presenters stressed their need for about 400 volunteers to help them with their goal of raising $16,000 — $8,000 on Shine Day (Sept. 14) alone.

“The money is very important, but it’s also about the awareness,” said Payjack during a slide presentation.

Following the Shinerama presentation, Brian Barth presented his evaluation of accessibility to UMSU spaces. Barth had been hired buy UMSU for the two-month-long project.

His main objectives were to document how UMSU facilities match and/or deviate from current Canadian standards in accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

Barth evaluated spaces such as GPA’s, Degrees, IQ’s, and the UMSU offices.

“UMSU’s services and locations were overall quite accessible,” said Barth, “Most problems only need what I like to call low-tech, low-cost solutions.”

Some of the main small problems that seemed to occur in general were knob-style door handles, portable obstructions such as magazine stands, some inaccessible controls, no pushbutton door access and no obvious TTY access for the hearing impaired.

Barth suggested solutions such as exchanging pieces of furniture in order to accommodate everyone. For example, at IQ’s, instead of having all computer desks the same height, one could be changed to make it accessible to someone in a wheelchair.

“Most of us aren’t disabled, but from time to time end up that way with a broken leg or something similar,” said Barth.

The third presentation, from the UMSU executive, was held in a closed session for UMSU councillors only.

Other announcements that took place during the reports of the meetings included the Science Students’ Association winning one of IQ’s pool tables that are being replaced with foosball units, and Gary Sran’s update on UMSU’s involvement in University 1 orientation. UMSU and U1 have been disagreeing for some time on terms for U1 orientation.

Christian Butera, UMSU’s vicepresident (advocacy), stated that he and Sran met with the director of libraries, Carolynn Presser, to discuss two services they feel the library should offer: food for fines (where instead of paying late fees, students contribute food to the food bank) and an “exam bank” program.

“[Presser] was hesitant to give up this much money,” said Butera on the food for fines program, “but she said she’d look into it.”

Various executives also mentioned UMSU’s orientation, held from Sept. 7-17. Final arrangements are underway and UMSU is currently busy organizing for their big event.

“We’ve been busy with orientation and it’s just August! Wait until September!” said Rachel Gotthilf, vicepresident (external).

UMSU Council meetings that are held every second Thursday in 176 at the Helen Glass. All meetings take place at 6:00 p.m..