The meeting discussed updates to budgeting, services and policies
Yaminah Veloso (she/her) // Contributor
Cassandra VP (she/her) // Illustrator
The Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) held its semi-annual general meeting at 11:30 a.m. in the CSU library lounge on Tuesday, February 27, with an attendance of 105 students.
Seated at the podium were CSU President Karandeep Sanghera, Vice-President of Finance & Services Akshit Kansra, Student Associations Coordinator Merhnaz Nouri and Executive Director Christopher Girodat. Vice-President External Manpreet also presented an update on advocacy for transit improvement.
The projected 2024-2025 revenue is $3,621,758, a 21.4 per cent increase from the previous year. Expenses are projected to reach a total of $2,404,080 for 2024-2025, a 19.8 per cent increase from last year.
Overall, there will also be an accumulated surplus of $1,217,678. “We are not allocating that surplus to any spending,” Girodat explained during the meeting. The CSU’s policy requires 12 months worth of surplus savings in the potential case of halted revenues. Much of this accumulating surplus is intended for funding the future CSU building construction, while the rest will replenish financial deficits from the pandemic. One per cent will also be put aside for each area of funding, such as the community cupboard, clubs and events.
There have also been various updates to the CSU’s policies and services during the past year.
Notably, elections have been limited to in-person voting this year to sustain vote integrity due to various incidents of misconduct in recent years.
In the fight for truth and reconciliation, the CSU is actively encouraging tuition waivers for Indigenous students.
They are also planning to advocate for 24-hour library access, which they see as particularly important during exam periods. Similarly, the CSU is currently advocating for more study spaces and the potential hiring of students for peer tutoring.
As for services, the CSU board has approved a $10,000 contribution to the university’s Eat, Share, Care fund, a program for supporting students with food insecurity. This fund is also being matched dollar-for-dollar by the Y. P. Heung Foundation, accumulating a total contribution of $20,000. The CSU board is also foreseeing enhanced services to the Community Cupboard and subsidized costs for Device Doctor, an affordable resource for fixing software and hardware issues.
The CSU is also a referral partner for Quest Food Exchange, a service that partners students with local shopping areas that offer lower-rate products. With a new member services coordinator, the CSU is pursuing the return of emergency food hampers. “[The hampers will] be a little bit more intentionally constructed in a more nutritionally holistic way and customized with a number of dependence and dietary restrictions,” said Girodat.
Improvements have also been made to CSU’s gender diversity policy. There are no more gender-based dress codes, and menstrual products are now included in some men’s washrooms around campus. The CSU has also worked with CapU’s HR to improve education on gender diversity in the institution and workplace and has habituated introducing pronouns at meetings. Some inquired about the need for these introductions meeting-after-meeting and the CSU responded by further educating on the motion’s significance for the marginalized groups affected.
In terms of advocacy, the CSU holds many campaigns to improve the living conditions of students. With over 950 signatures, the Drop the Fees campaign is a petition for CapU to cut the $500 fee charged for international students who drop courses. The CSU is also actively encouraging government policy changes to lessen universities’ reliance on international students in their budgets. “The board does not believe that universities should be generating profit from international students,” said Girodat.
Make the Switch, another ongoing campaign, is geared toward advocating for open resources and reducing the need for textbooks. Since the campaign’s launch in 2020, students have saved over $1,069,456.
And of course, they have a campaign about transportation. “Translink heavily relies on feedback,” said Manpreet. With the Coffee with Commuters campaign, students provide feedback on their commute in exchange for free coffee and donuts, which is then used to advocate for transit improvement. One student raised concern over this need for advocacy despite low chances of resolution. “If we back out, it’s just—it’s kind of like giving up and I don’t want to live by that,” answered Manpreet.
For more information on services, policies or updates, follow the CSU’s Instagram @capstudentunion, or visit https://csu.bc.ca/.
A livestream of the event is available on the Capilano Courier’s YouTube channel.