Elections for the sole seat for student representatives on the Board of Governor’s were held Tues. March 19 and Wed. March 20. But the question most candidates asked was how many students even know what the Board of Governors is?

The Board of Governors (BoG) is the chief governing body that oversees the University’s financial and administrative operations. The BoG is legislated by The McMaster University Act, 1976. The act has been unchanged since its inception.

Several of this year’s undergraduate candidates have called on the BoG to change member allocations, which are governed by the Act.

They argue that by increasing the number of held by students, the Board will be better able to garner student interest and adequately address their needs.

According to a 2011 OUSA report, the lobbying body that represents the MSU, McMaster has one of the lowest student representations on its chief governing body.

One seat of the 34 has been allocated, under the Act, to undergraduates since 1976. One seat is also allocated for graduate students. 2.7% of the board is allocated to undergraduate student representation. The provincial average for student representation on governing bodies is 7.1%.

Schools such as University of Toronto and Ryerson have 12% and 12.5% student representation respectively.

Candidate Shanthiya Baheerathan noted that the Board is interested in giving students what they want.

“Having one rep is not okay for 28,000 students. This is really important to recognize, if they really want to gauge student interests. Regardless of their receptiveness to student interests, they need to be more actively engaging with students.”

In contrast, candidate Leah Pantich focused on how an increase in the size of the BoG could be detrimental to governance.

“When additional members are added to a group, the structure of communication between the representatives and the group represented must be altered, and this can give rise to complication.”

Candidate Derrick Yick reiterated the importance of the BoG but emphasized how inaccessible it can be for undergraduate students.

“Despite the influence and the responsibilities that the Board holds (such as overseeing financial investments), it seems that the largest group affected –undergrad – students, have the smallest voice.”

Multiple candidates identified the issue of representation and student body awareness as core ideas in their platforms.

“Honestly, if I were to ask students across campus if their concerns of the university are being heard, I can say that the majority of us will somehow mention the MSU,” said David Cheng, another BoG candidate.

In general, the majority of the members of the BoG are from the external business community. Board members are also allocated to sit on specific committees. The current undergraduate representative, Melanie Iarocci, sits on the Finance and the Human Resources Committee.

Helen Ayre, Acting University Secretary, explained that most of the BoG is governed almost entirely by the McMaster Act of 1976.

“[In order to increase the number of student seats], it would require changing the act which would require the provincial government to change the act, as a provincial piece of legislation. This would be a long and complex process.” 

When The Silhouette went to press, online voting was still being processed. The elected student representative for the Board of Governors should be announced on March 21.

 

 

 

 

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There’s nothing quite like winning Roll Up the Rim. But when you win in the student centre, Terri Marshall makes your win even more memorable.

Marshall has become an overnight celebrity for serenading students with cheers and a “Winner-Style” dance.

A student customer first filmed Teri during her cheer and posted the clip on YouTube. The YouTube video clip is entitled, “Tim Horton’s Employee of the Year?”. When the video first went up, Marshall was unaware of it. Within the first two days the clip received 77, 000 views.

As of Friday morning, the video had close to 600,000 views.

Terri is well known for being a friendly face in the Student Centre.

“Terri is the nicest person. A lot of students don’t know her personally but she goes out of her way to say the sweetest things and exponentially brightens all of our days,“ said YouTube user Whitneh23 in a comment on the video.

When asked what her secret was to being so cheery, she said simply, “it’s just in my nature.”

“I love doing things to shock and catch students' eye.”

Marshall explained how she came up with “Winner Style” this year, after students kept coming up to her asking when Roll Up the Rim season was beginning. Students were so accustomed to her dancing and cheering last year that she came up with “Winner Style” as something new for this year.

The story has grown exponentially, and reached news outlets all over Canada, including CHCH, CBC, Huffington Post Canada, Yahoo Canada and Canoe.ca.

“As a regular Tim’s customer, going every day, Terri is always over-the-top friendly to everyone. Campus is lucky to have her," said Mac student Andrew Terefenko.

Debate over potential licensing by-law continues

On of Nov. 27, the City of Hamilton will be releasing its recommendations for a new housing by-law. While the housing rental by-law is not specifically aimed at targeting students, potential changes include the introduction of a $150 licensing fee, a property standards checklist and a six-person occupancy limit.

These recommendations come after months of consultation between City officials, landlords and the McMaster Students Union. Councilor Brian McHattie spoke to The Silhouette in September and reiterated that the introduction of a licensing fee would guarantee higher property standards and hold landlords accountable to providing safe housing.

“The focus is safe housing. We have unsafe and unpalatable housing across the city,” said McHattie.

However, landlord associations, such as the Hamilton and District Apartment Association (HDAA), have spoken out against the rental licensing costs.

Arun Pathak, President of HDAA, told The Hamilton Spectator on Nov. 7 that the City is not using all of its current tools to crack down on substandard rental units.

In particular, Pathak highlighted Project Compliance, which has seen municipal by-law enforcement officers cracking down on illegal rental units since 2010.

Project Compliance is a pilot project that targeted specific wards, including Ward 1, which includes Westdale.

The MSU issued a press release to alert students to these changes on Nov. 20. Additionally, they have created an online survey for students to list their preferences when it comes to cost of rent, quality of rental property and number of occupants in the rental property.

One third-year Social Sciences student has already been impacted by the controversy surrounding the proposed changes.

This student had been in communication with their landlord and was made aware that a licensing fee was potentially being introduced. The landlord told the student that she would be taking locks off the doors in the rental property and trying to put all the tenants on one lease for the next year, so that the rental property could be classified as a “family dwelling unit” and therefore not be subject to the licensing fee by-law.

In response to this, the student told the Silhouette that he strongly favoured the City licensing and more careful regulation of landlords and rental properties. He has also been in contact with Councillor McHattie’s Office.

While property standards are one part of the controversy, students could also incur additional costs. Currently, the City appears to be setting the fee at $150 per year. The concern is that this cost could be downloaded to students.

Huzaifa Saeed, MSU VP Education, spoke to the Sil in September, stating, “From one angle…this is a good deal for students. This would avoid horror stories with absentee lanlords. From an economic standpoint…what would this do for affordability of rental housing?”

While Hamilton appears to be pursuing the $150 fee, other cities, such as North Bay and Oshawa, have set prohibitively high fees of $300 and $500 respectively.

Both North Bay and Oshawa have also come under fire from the Ontario Human Rights Commission for targeting students in their by-laws and therefore discriminating specifically against student rentals.

Councillor McHattie told The Spectator that he is committed to keeping licensing fees low. The MSU has also continued to be involved in consultations with the City in order to advocate for student interests.

Foot traffic expected to increase significantly in already limited space

In mid-winter when there is a load of work and a lack of sunlight, students can always use a little vitamin boost. And come January, they’ll have the opportunity to get this from smoothies when a new location of Booster Juice is slated to come to the McMaster University Student Centre.

After the closing of Scoops, a smoothie and ice cream vendor that occupied a small kiosk next to Tim Hortons, McMaster Hospitality Services (MHS) explored different options for new businesses for the space. The deal between MHS and Booster Juice was announced in December of last year.

Lori Diamond, Director of MUSC, noted that students are happy with the deal.

“Feedback from students … was overwhelmingly positive when our proposal came forward,” she said.

Despite the anticipation from students and administrators, there has been no noticeable progress on a storefront in the student centre. And at this point, the construction details are still unclear.

“Nothing is confirmed,” explained Albert Ng, Director of MHS. The University held a meeting with the contractor and construction project team on Nov. 19 in order to work out these details, but Ng emphasized the fact that no strict timeline had been set.

“Three groups are trying to establish what would be a conservable and doable schedule,” he said, noting that the coordination between these groups was not always easy. MHS has some control over the construction, as the electrical work is run through McMaster, but the equipment for the store comes from Booster Juice, and the contractor is from an external company.

“From my understanding, most of the kiosk itself is constructed off-site, then put in place and hooked up with electrical, plumbing and equipment,” Diamond explained.

MUSC administration said that the proposal suggested construction would start the week of Nov. 26, with the opening scheduled for Jan. 2. And despite the lack of confirmation for the plans, Ng said, “we’re still hopeful that we can get it done for the New Year.”

The kiosk will occupy the same place as the previous smoothie bar, though it “will have a larger footprint.” The choice of location has raised some concerns about traffic flow and available space in the student centre, which is already often overcrowded. And MUSC, which replaced Hamilton Hall as the student centre when it opened in 2002, was built at a time when the student population was approximately 14,000 full-time students.

Diamond noted, “we did … consider [the impact on space], as did Hospitality Services in bringing forward the proposal.”

She said that the addition of the kiosk would not require a removal of seating, but that the existing food court area will be reconfigured to accommodate it.

MUSC added 48 seats to the area last year in order to accommodate the “rising demand,” but during the day the space is almost always full.

And the new storefront could pose more of a problem than rearranged seating; like the Tim Horton’s, Booster Juice will have to have a lineup for its customers.

Diamond claimed that “it will be configured to corral the line-up away from the main traffic corridor.”

But it remains to be seen whether the convenience of campus smoothies will come at the cost of a busier student centre.

Before the plan for a campus location, the nearest Booster Juice was a few minutes from campus, located at Main Street and Thorndale. It has since been closed.

Booster Juice was unavailable for comment on whether or not this is related to McMaster’s new store.

Kathleen Wynne, a Toronto MPP who recently entered the Ontario Liberal leadership bid, met with members of the McMaster Young Liberals at My Dog Joe in Westdale on Nov. 20.

At the small gathering, Wynne addressed topics including affordable housing, healthcare, economic growth, and a struggling post-secondary sector.

Wynne said she would keep Premier McGuinty’s 30 per cent off tuition grant in place and work toward increased access to Ontario’s post-secondary education.

In response to a Ministry discussion paper on education reform in September, Wynne expressed support for online learning as a tool, but said it should not replace traditional modes of learning.

“In some parts of the province we need more online courses. I don’t think we necessarily need a new online institution,” she said. Wynne also said she does not think three-year degrees are the way to go.

Wynne identified economic growth as a priority, and said she would work to balance the budget and ensure the Province stays on target fiscally for 2017-2018.

“We need to develop new, innovative industries, but we also have resources and a mining boom in the North,” said Wynne. “We need to find our place in the supply chain.”

Wynne, former education minister and minister of transportation, recently garnered the support of Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale.

Since Dalton McGuinty’s announcement in October that he would step down as Premier and prorogue Parliament, six Liberal MPPs have entered the leadership race. The other candidates are Gerard Kennedy (Toronto), Glen Murray (Toronto), Sandra Pupatello (Windsor) and Charles Sousa (Mississauga).

 

McMaster complies with provincial regulations regarding accessibility, but can the institution address what accessibility means for different students and foster a culture of accessibility across the university?

Ramps, braille design and test accommodation are just some of the ways campuses strive to be more accessible to students with disabilities. But is the University doing enough to understand the many facets of accessibility and the issues that come along with aiming for a completely accessible campus?

The McMaster Accessibility Forum, which will be held on Nov. 15, aims to address issues concerning accessibility on campus. This will be the second such forum held, where organizers hope to compile a list of student concerns to bring to different bodies across the University.

Removing barriers of all kinds

Mainstream definitions of accessibility typically conjure images of physical barriers or buildings with highly accessible design features such as ramps or wheelchair lifts. Removing physical barriers and creating a more physically accessible environment has been an institutional priority for many years.

Tim Nolan, Manager of Disability Services, mentioned that McMaster overall has been steadily improving physical accessibility and conducting building wide accessibility audits for years.

Nolan noted that new technology can be extremely helpful in diminishing physical barriers. He gave the example of Urban Braille Design, which uses texture contrast in paving sidewalks to give visual orientation to those who are blind and visually impaired. This technology has just been installed in new sidewalks in front of the McMaster Museum of Art.

However, Nolan also noted that when some technologies are developed, “accessibility is not always a forefront.” And while new buildings should comply with Built Environmental Standards according to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act (AODA), navigating campus is not always the easiest task.

Meghan Hines, a fourth year Commerce student and one of the organizers of the forum, remarked how for a first-year student with a physical disability it can be cumbersome to initially get around campus.

Hines, a student with a physical disability herself, noted that the wheelchair lift in MUSC requires a special pass to use, which discourages more students from using it and therefore negates its main purpose.

However, students with physical disabilities are just one group who require special attention, according to Ann Fudge Schormans, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and member of the Disability Action Group.

Fudge Schormans highlighted how issues surrounding students with learning disabilities or disabilities related to mental health issues often go unnoticed. She emphasized how this can be especially significant because of the high degree of stigma attributed to both types of disability.

While mental health awareness has been a major focus point of both University Administration and MSU strategy, it does not necessarily address mental health issues from a disability framework.

Alisa, a student and psychiatric survivor, emphasized how the current framework tends to promote an overtly medicalized view of mental health issues. She believes this leads to accommodations primarily being made for physical disabilities and then the same accommodations being uniformly applied to mental health cases.

“The issue stems from how we think about mental health in terms of thinking of it as solely a medical idea… The way Mac talks about mental health awareness obscures the fact that these people belong to an equity group which can be connected to others with different disabilities.”

Raihanna Hirji-Khalfan, an Accessibility Specialist with the Human Rights and Equity Services Office, also argued that equity for students with disabilities is a major issue, especially in regards to attitudinal biases.

“Attitudinal barriers are a huge issue. So trying to create a culture of accessibility is extremely important. You can’t necessarily eliminate all barriers but if there is a culture of accessibility it can limit or negate the effects of exclusion or barriers on campus.”

Slow change

Since AODA came into force in 2005, post-secondary institutions and other organizations have had to comply with various regulations, especially with regards to customer service.  The goal is to ensure a fully-accessible Ontario by 2025. Tim Nolan asserted how important this timeline is, in order to provide an end-date for institutions to make themselves fully accessible.

According to the McMaster Accessibility Plan, the University has smaller milestones to comply with prior to the 2025 end goal. Online AODA training modules were some of the first measures that were undertaken by the University. Some education- based regulations must be complied with by Jan. 1 2013 and are extremely relevant to students and staff.

One specific regulation requires institutions to provide accessible educational materials such as textbooks, in a variety of formats. Another regulation mandates that educators receive adequate training in accessibility awareness.

But McMaster does not have standard training for instructors across faculties on disability awareness, beyond the limited AODA online modules.

Fudge Schormans explained that, “more could be done in terms of AODA compliance training, more than just the modules.” She suggested that a broader range of tools should be made available for instructors to increase the accessibility of the curriculum and lectures.

According to Nolan, the University will soon be rolling out a tool from the Council of Ontario Universities that should help improve instructional design.

Part of $700,000 in funding from TD Bank was allocated to make textbook and resource accessibility a more attainable goal and allowed a new staff position in Library Services. The TD Coordinator for Library Accessibility Services is responsible for working with students with disabilities and adaptive technologies.

However, students with disabilities and accessibility awareness are still not at the forefront of McMaster’s administrative strategy. As outlined in recent OUSA documents, it remains difficult for institutions to address the diverse array of needs of different disabilities, given the complex process and documentation required to receive government funding. Students like Meghan often pay out of their own pocket for special documentation or services.

Leaders in accessibility

While McMaster has long recognized the value of an accessible campus, even prior to AODA, some Ontario universities have excelled in addressing equity for students with disabilities.

York, Ryerson and Toronto all have programs in disability or equity studies, which create a higher degree of student awareness of accessibility issues. Guelph is recognized as a leader in the field as the host of an annual Accessibility Conference.

Some campuses, such as Brock, provide a higher degree of direct student support to students with disabilities, offering students with physical disabilities attendant care to help with their daily living. Other campuses offer students with disabilities their own spaces for peer support and student campaigns.

UOIT has an entire virtual unit dedicated to universal instructional design. McMaster’s School of Social Work has recently begun inviting students with intellectual disabilities to audit courses in order to open up otherwise unavailable opportunities for these students.

Fudge Schormans explained that faculty have remarked upon how all students have benefitted from this experience and introducing new teaching methods has created greater dialogue and diversity in the classroom.

The Accessibility Forum creates an open and inclusive atmosphere for students with disabilities to voice their concerns about how McMaster approaches the issue of accessibility. Katie, a student with a hearing disability, is planning on attending the forum but isn’t sure what will come out of it. “I think it’s hard to be fully accessible because everyone has such different issues,“ she said.

McMaster has set out to create an inclusive environment for students of all abilities, as mandated in the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community (PACBIC). But in trying to create a culture of accessibility, students have argued that the institution must both address the group as whole while also avoiding the amalgamation of diverse accessibility needs into a homogenous category.

Students with disabilities are a group that strives to be more recognized, and fostering an accessible environment is just the first step towards recognizing this group’s needs.

Just before midnight on Thursday, Nov. 1, Sterling Street near Haddon Avenue was awash with the flashing blue and red of police cruisers, which were responding to an armed robbery incident at a Westdale student house.

In the home, four males and one female, ages 20-22, were taken by surprise when suspects described to Hamilton police as all male, black and in their early twenties entered the premises. One suspect armed with a knife and another, allegedly, with a firearm demanded that the students empty their pockets and turn over all their belongings.

“The targeted items that were taken were electronic items and cash,” said Sergeant Terri Lynn Collings of Hamilton Police Services. The people in the home complied with the intruders’ demands, and then the suspects fled from the home.

Although the burglars were carrying weapons, the students were not injured and did not require medical attention when emergency services arrived.

Lydia Vanderkooy, an upper-year McMaster student who resides near the house, commented that there “must have been about 20 cops cars lining the street on Sterling from Haddon to Cline area.”

The normally safe area of Westdale has been the target of several alarming incidents of late, most notably the sexual predator who was reported in the area in July and the petty thief who mugged several Hamiltonians in August.

As of Nov. 7, no suspects had been apprehended for the armed robbery, and police were still piecing together the details.

“We’re continuing to find out exactly what happened there, and why,” said Collings.

Part 1 of an ongoing series

How is experiential education framed in Forward with Integrity?

It’s been just over a year since McMaster’s president Patrick Deane issued his visioning letter, “Forward With Integrity,” to the McMaster community.

The letter introduced new strategic priorities for the University. It planted notions of “a student-centred research intensive institution,” “internationalization” and “experiential learning experiences” in the forefront of the campus’ consciousness. FWI stated that McMaster had an obligation to engage with the community and enhance student experience by increasing self-directed and interdisciplinary opportunities.

Following the release of the letter last September, four task forces were formed to examine McMaster’s current environment. The task forces were responsible for making recommendations to improve the institution’s standing in the fields of Community Engagement, Student Experience, Internationalization and Research.

The task forces concluded their work in May 2012 and compiled their findings and recommendations into four separate reports.

Broadening Experiential Opportunities

The Student Experience Task Force report explored how to increase experiential opportunities. The term “experiential education” often implies a co-op or internship type experience that involves “learning outside the classroom.” The report sought to broaden this definition and re-envision how experiential opportunities could be offered to all students, regardless of faculty.

Several faculties already provide experiential opportunities. The Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Life Sciences program provide academic or co-op placements, while opportunities for co-curricular activities exist in Arts and Science, Integrated Science and Health Science.

Smaller programs and faculties such as Arts and Science and Integrated Science have had experiential components embedded in their curriculum since their inception. Both of these programs have also been at the forefront of submitting proposals for new interdisciplinary courses that feature field work and co-curricular experiences.

Carolyn Eyles, director of the iSci Program, spoke about the new ARTSCI/ISCI 3EI1 course, which was developed as a result of the renewed focus on interdisciplinary and unique experiential courses. Students taking the course participate in a field trip to the world’s largest known cave system in Kentucky.

For Eyles, courses like these are about being flexible in providing learning and research opportunities to students not normally available in lecture-based format.

“[It’s about] how to recognize and validate the student experience … and creating linkages between different groups,” she said.

But the Student Experience task force also aimed to fundamentally alter how McMaster understands experiential opportunities. In their findings, they proposed not only new systems to organize these experiences, but also looked to introduce a more reflexive approach to offering experiential education.

Dr. Susan Denburg, Associate Vice-President Academic Health Sciences and Strategic Advisor to the President noted that there are many forms that an experiential program can take on, whether it is inside or outside the classroom.

“We can create an experiential learning environment … by having [students] reflect on their learning goals … if we [make] it a habit of identifying learning goals, if students think about why they’re here and what they hope to achieve in their various courses or extracurricular activities or volunteer work they undertake,” she said.

Creating a “Made-in McMaster” Solution

Denburg stressed the need for a “McMaster-made solution” that incorporates experiential components into the entirety of one’s time at McMaster. She asserted that these opportunities could be delivered within the classroom.

Problem-based learning (PBL), another McMaster-made solution, is one specific method of incorporating experiential opportunities into the classroom. The teaching method, while impossible to define and open to various interpretations, advocates plunging students into issues with limited frameworks and allowing them to present their conclusions.

“In discipline-centered learning, the teacher has filtered the information, presenting a body of information they feel the student should know. In PBL … students wrestle with information themselves,” said Dr. Patangi Rangchari, Professor Emeritus of Medicine.

The PBL model is not discipline-centered, but has typically been associated with smaller programs and class sizes. However, Rangachari reiterated that PBL-type methods can easily be applied to larger environments.

Similarly, Dr. Denburg discussed the importance of engaging students in large classes and how opportunities in the learning portfolio can do this.

“You can change a large group experience into something very personal and very group-oriented with not that much difficulty,” said Denberg. “We’re seriously committing to a lot of faculty professional development … people are going to need help in new ways of teaching. It’s a question of how…we scale up.”

Developing a learning portfolio

A major recommendation to come out of the task force was the creation of “learning portfolios.” Learning portfolios are meant to encompass both the co-curricular and academic experiences that students complete throughout their degree. The portfolios would function as a holistic marker of a student’s “learning journey” through university.

What differentiates the learning portfolio from simply being a tracking mechanism is that learning portfolios would be self-directed and would include self-tracked learning goals.

Although in its infancy, the learning portfolio concept has spurred numerous potential initiatives. One example suggested by the task force was a learning goal journal, where students would track and reflect on their experiences. Other examples included a multi-year course that stretched across the duration of a student’s time at McMaster and implementing a mentorship network to aid in supporting students’ learning goals.

The learning portfolio and the push towards incorporating more experiential opportunities is compatible with what has already been going on for years in the institution, but could also kick-start some new ideas.

The University has put out a call for proposals related to programs that will provide self-directed or experiential learning opportunities. These projects are meant to be academically oriented and focused on advancing the learning portfolio.

Proposals from faculty, staff and students can be submitted to be reviewed by the FWI Advisory Group. The first deadline is Nov. 15 for pilot projects to tentatively be launched in the spring, and there is also a second-round deadline in January.

The prioritization of experiential learning was most recently re-iterated in the Sept. 28 submission of McMaster’s Strategic Mandate Agreement to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The letter specifically proposed a partnership with the province to establish an Experiential Learning Centre.

 

Next Week: Exploring more flexibility in the student experience and community engagement

Event draws limited student participation

Ryan Sparrow

On Oct. 23, representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) - Ontario, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) - Ontario, and McMaster faculty member, Peter Graefe, all spoke out against the purposed changes to the sector. Also on the panel was NDP politician, Theresa Armstrong who is the NDP critic for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and University (MTCU).

The panel was organized by the NDP Riding Associations of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Hamilton Centre. The event was attended by approximately 40 people.

Janice Folk-Dawson, Chair of the Ontario University Workers Coordination Committee of CUPE- Ontario criticized the Ministry’s plans and called “for the establishment of a true consultation process with wide ranging discussions including chronic underfunding to post-secondary institutions and a discussion of tuition and auxiliary fees.”

Peter Graefe, a Political Science professor, criticized the three semester a year plan stating, “As much as people think I’m at home sunbathing myself during those [summer] months, I’m here most days involved in work related to research.”

He also addressed the Ministry’s suggestion about three-year degrees, and said, “Three year degrees, is there a demand for that? We have been seeing three year degrees shut down across the province for a lack of demand for a variety of reasons.”

“When we talk about scarce public resources we have to realise that it is a myth, the income tax for people making over 500,000 dollars was introduced and next thing you know we got an extra 500 million in revenue” said Mike Yam, CFS-Ontario researcher.

“I know a lot of labour unions and progressive economists talk about reversing corporate tax cuts; for sure if they were back to 2009 levels we’d have an extra two billion plus dollars in government coffers that could provide for all undergraduates in Ontario to go to school for free.”

Theresa Armstrong, the NDP Critic for MTCU, gave a uniformly scripted speech, which provided little insight into the Ontario New Democrat’s plans outside of re-stating their election promises.

Dan Fahey, a third-year Integrated Science student, felt upset with the lack of a comprehensive vision presented by the NDP stating that he, “felt underwhelmed by Theresa Armstrong’s performance, when the stakes are so high with the attack to education that we are facing.”

“I thought Mike Yam said the right things. That we need to build solidarity between students and staff on campus and it’s going to take a lot of work.”