Over the past year there have been stirrings of discontent with the current direction of Brandon University’s student union, ranging from issues regarding the training of new student directors as well as an overarching sense of disconnect from the student body.
An individual who has asked to remain anonymous found particular issue with the training of new incoming directors. As per the BUSU job description a director “serves as liaisons between BUSU and the students they represent” for example the current openings consist of a Women’s and a Queer director, both of whom would act as representatives for their particular group of students in the BU community respectively. The source went on to explain that while they had previously accepted a position they found themselves with no training even as the school year had began, as late as November. They also found no information regarding office hours. This unresponsiveness of BUSU was a trend they also noticed in the response to the hate speech Brandon University had experienced on campus as a commitment to action was slow in coming; however, they did make a point to mention that action was taken against the hate speech after a time, which they commented was a positive step.
Jill Creasor is another individual who expressed concern over the current state of BUSU. She commented that when she had previously worked alongside Nick Brown and Greg Monias followed by Trevor Poole, and when she was in office during 2016-17 “it was great”, however she went on to note “I’ve heard rumours that the environment in the office is quite toxic right now”. When asked about anything in particular she wanted to note, Creasor had particular issue with the presence of a baby gate blocking off part of the BUSU office. During her year she noted that they had the couch moved specifically into the main office so students could come in and sit, however the presence of the baby gate sent the message that “students are babies and less than them [BUSU] who need to be kept away, and second, that the BUSU Office isn’t a student office.” The anonymous source noted that the baby gate is no longer present, however, seemingly in replacement there has been placed a sign on the window next to the BUSU offices declaring “BUSU Staff Only Beyond This Point”, seemingly supporting Creasor’s comment that the BUSU office has ceased being an office for the students and distance is placed between them.
The Brandon University Students Union Vice President Internal and Vice President External were both contacted in regards to this article on multiple inquiries including the presence of the baby gate- however no response was given despite over three weeks given for response time.