A student council functions in many ways like a city council. There’s the executive team, which includes the student union president, as well as elected student representatives tasked with promoting the interests of their “wards.” At the University of Toronto, the “wards” are the students’ faculty, college or professional program.
The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) functions with this structure and is tasked with distributing funds collected through mandatory fees from some 45,000 undergraduate students. The union also runs regular advocacy programs, including annual movements to drop student fees and the occasional protest against speakers they don’t like — the usual student union stuff.
The UTSU, however, wants to take the unprecedented step of overhauling its council structure and implementing a new system comprised of “constituency directors” representing mostly marginalized groups. In total, there would be 10 constituency directors, who would represent racialized students, LGBTQ students, women, international students, indigenous students, students with disabilities, mature students, athletes, first-year students and commuters. That would mean that board representation for Engineering, Arts and Science, Trinity College and so forth would all be dissolved, leaving 45,000 students to hope their interests are represented by the “racialized” council member, or the “indigenous” representative, or fits nicely into one of the other eight categories. This plan doesn’t include any council representation for the white, male, second-year student who lives on campus and doesn’t play sports — but he has his privilege, right? (more...)
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