One Question Down.
January 28, 2012
The big question that has consumed the union (and The Watch) since the beginning of the year was answered last week. With the ‘yes’ vote from the student body, the union will move ahead with opening the King’s Galley canteen, maybe even by the end of the month (pg. 14). Coffee and muffin in hand, we can close that chapter.
But now is not the time to rest and celebrate.
The referendum vote pulled in just shy of 30 per cent of the students’ union. Quroum for elections and referenda is just 25 per cent. While this is pretty high among student unions, it’s still not even half the student population of our school. All of the students need to be engaged—there are big questions that require our immediate attention.
The province signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the universities, and it means the schools must make cuts and we must pay more. This is after the same thing happened last year. These cuts will affect us directly, with King’s cutting hundreds of thousands of dollars out of its already-tight budget (p. 8). Where will the cuts fall? Athletics teams? Library books? Larger classes? The question concerns us all.
This has sparked a conversation about the future of our school. We can’t just keep making reactionary cuts over and over. The Board of Governors struck the Financial Sustainability Committee to address these issues, but unfortunately, the student union was cut out of this advisory position (p. 12). The board did not want competing constituencies represented. The union also subsequently lost its position on the committee that advises the president on creating the budget.
So what’s next for the school? It seems that we, the students, need to start shouting if we want our say.
Here’s to making our voices heard,
Evey and Charlotte
Editors-in–Chief
