School is coming to an end, and Trinity Western University Student Association provided students with various events, advocacy, services and initiatives.
“Last year’s council voted to increase student fees to $65 from $60, but that change did not come into effect until January 2010. So for the first semester, full-time undergraduate students paid $60 and second semester they paid $65. Part-time students paid $30 and $35, respectively,” said Daniel Reynolds, TWUSA’s executive director of internal relations.
Events and services on campus that individually cost each student less than $5 included: American Student Government Association Membership, the Cube, TWUSA Express, Spartan Nights, Banana Challenge, campus barbeques, Hootenanny, CANAM, Open Mic, the Reel, and the Grad Banquet. Mars’ Hill and Pillar only took around $20 each from student fees.
TWUSA’s major initiatives allocated over $9000 to their largest proposals budget ever; this budget was used to support initiatives such as composting bins for residents, opening night galas for TWU Theatre, distribution of [spaces] literary journal across Canada, tetherball pole on campus, art shows, School of Business Association’s Bachelor Auction for Haiti, International Social Justice Club events and fundraisers, and Faith and Science Week.
As for the recreation fee, students paid nearly $200,000. TWUSA advocated for fiscally responsible and effective use. So far, the results from the recreation fee are the new bouldering wall, new fitness centre equipment, and long-term plans for a major project.
At TWU, CAN-AM is the largest event outside of convocation, however this year Hootenanny was a big hit. “Outside of grad banquet, we spent more money on Hootenanny than any other event and this year approximately one in three TWU students attended,” said Reynolds. “Traditionally we do not charge for Hootenanny and instead donate any proceeds to charity, meaning we cannot rely on any revenue to subsidize the costs.”
In addition to finances, TWUSA worked with Sodexo to improve students’ food experience. TWUSA also approved the creation of: the new School of the Arts, Media and Culture, the Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Communications major, and a new RELS 100 class, designed for students from a non-Christian background. Finally, TWUSA investigated the possibility of students receiving academic course credit for extra-curricular involvement.
