STUDENT EXPERIENCE
"When I came to Western, I came for the unique student experience. Our student experience is shaped by the different supports and resources in place to ensure that we all have access to our community and education. University is also about our journey through personhood, we are being set up to be the leaders of tomorrow. "
FOCUS
Financial Aid
One of the largest barriers to success in post-secondary education is financial insecurity. The pandemic has placed an undue hardship on students within our community, exacerbating existing problems surrounding affordability. The Financial Aid Policy paper and the Tuition Policy Paper are both formal documents tasking the executive to commit to affordability-advocacy.
Mental Health
We need to prioritize mental health as a form of health care and give it the importance that it deserves. We are amidst a mental health crisis, we need to use reactionary and proactive measures in order to support students amidst their academic journey.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Racialized students across Western and HBK deserve to have equal access to education, and they deserve to access education in a safe and inclusive environment. We need to tackle racism as a community as a whole, engaging students in our efforts to dismantle the systems of oppression that oppress BIPOC students.
Sustainability
The University has a goal of being net-zero, however, they are not close to reaching their goals. The University needs to take a more aggressive approach by holding itself as an institution accountable instead of shifting the blame on students. There is also an issue with students becoming apathetic to sustainability messaging because of the blame language used. We need to commit to reinvigorating the student population and holding the University accountable.
Community Safety
The work of the ASGBV Working Group has been to set up measures for evaluation of the GBV Policy as it passed on May 1, 2020. However, The Safe Campus Community Policy has not been updated since May 1, 2008. This policy needs to be updated in order to ensure that there are checks and measures in place to keep campus safer for our whole community. Aside from updating the policy, there are many ways that we can create a safer campus community and adopt a framework that is survivor-centric.
Professional Development
Advocacy relies on consultation from students to make sure that our efforts are congruent with the needs of students.