Toban Talkback - President's open office hours

Every September, U of M president Emöke Szathmáry holds open office hours — inviting students to come and speak with her. Between 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, this is what two of the three students who showed up to her office at 202 Admin — and others around campus — wanted to ask the president.

TESSA VANDERHART STAFF

James Fry Third-year agribusiness	What did you talk to the president about? Actually, I wanted to satisfy some personal curiosity about some of the issues that have been talked about quite frequently about on campus. Are you satisfied with your conversation? I do. She’s a very candid woman, I didn’t sense at that she was trying to evade me at all with her questions. Why do you think more people aren’t here? Maybe they don’t know about it, and the other side of it is that they may not think to question some of the things that are commonly discussed, whether through — not necessarily the student media, but UMSU and that sort of thing, there’s a lot of information that’s presented but not necessarily looked into
Jeff Chorney Third-year arts	Why are you at the president’s office hours? I’d just like to discuss a few concerns that I’ve thought about and I’ve seen here at the university — I hope they’re not too lame to bring to the top of the food chain! What are you going to talk to the president about? I think parking’s a pretty big issue. I’ve also got a few quick environmental things. I know in the Manitoban there’s been a lot about food services — then how do you co-ordinate people’s eating at a place like this? I’ve gotta always tell her about the happy side, too: the quality of their staff . . . I think they’re getting better.
Janelle Strachan Third-year commerce	Why aren’t you at the president’s office hours? [With food in her mouth] . . . eating food. I guess I didn’t know about it. What would you ask the president? On what basis do we determine the public issues: tuition, what faculties cost, that kind of thing. How much do you determine how much each student pays in addition to tuition in terms of faculty fees and labs? How are we as a university trying to improve [the] credibility of our degrees, as opposed to other universities?
Ibukun Akin-Agunblade Third-year science	Why aren’t you at the president’s office hours? I have other things that I’m doing? Well, I don’t know what kind of power she has . . . but if she makes all the decisions at the uni . . . What would you ask the president? I think the first question would be, how much control does she have over the decisions that are made at the university?
Annah Ali and Cara Isaac University 1	Why aren’t you at the president’s office hours? I: I didn’t know. I haven’t even seen anything about this. A: If I had something to talk to her about . . . . What would you ask the president? A: They should tell first-year students about the tunnels. I: At orientation, they didn’t tell us anything about the social part of the university.