The Brandon University Students’ Union (BUSU) meeting following the last Board of Governor’s (BOG) meeting had several moments of trying to bolster council member’s spirits after their motions were defeated.

One of the most unfortunate things for BUSU that took place shortly before the BOG meeting was the removal of Laura Davidson, BUSU Arts Director, from the BOG. She was originally granted a seat on the board due to her place within Senate, however after a review of the Brandon University Faculty Association (BUFA) contract, it was discovered that the Senate appointed seat on the Board must be occupied by a faculty member. The removal of Davidson from the board was then done to ensure that the BUFA contract was being adhered to. It is, however, worth noting that the past meeting would have been Davidson’s last meeting with the Board of Governors regardless of her removal, as her term was set to end before the next meeting took place.

Davidson’s removal from the Board ultimately meant one less vote for BUSU’s motions that BUSU President Nick Brown had presented to the BOG. These motions, aiming to tie Brandon University’s tuition increases to the rate of inflation despite the Provincial Government’s intentions to allow universities to raise tuition by as much as five per cent plus the inflation rate, as well as to ensure that the differential fee for international students is not raised, both failed due to a lack of support from the Board. Brown noted that the only votes in favour of these motions were his own, and that of BUSU Vice President Internal Jill Creasor. At the March 27th BUSU meeting Brown said that he was “quite disappointed with the Board” at this time.

This is not, however, the end of the campaign to ensure that tuition for domestic and international students remains affordable. Creasor and Brown noted that contact information for all students who attended the BOG meeting in support of BUSU’s motions were collected, and those students will be informed of future campaign plans. The council insisted that they would continue to fight for students going forward, and that they had not lost hope despite their recent set back.

Two other important events were announced at this time. Creasor said to council that there will be a student space shuffle taking place in the KDC as of May 1st which will allow all collectives to be housed on the 2nd flood, with the Women’s collective and LGBTQ collective sharing space, and the International Students’ Organization and BUASC sharing a space.

The other upcoming event announced was the CFS-MB AGM, which will take place in Brandon this year on April 27th, as announced by Brown.

The next council meeting will be April 10th at 5:00pm.

Republished from The Quill print edition, Volume 107, Issue 28, April 4th, 2017.