For those of you that don?t know, Jessica Tong, the USC?s coordinator for the Sexual Health and Consent Education Service has resigned with an open letter (http://iksusc.tumblr.com/).? I guess you could say this is our first public hurdle for my team and I, and I?d like to think we?ve a learnt a lot and gained some new perspective about the USC.? These are some of the lessons we?ve learned and some of the goals we are continuing to work towards.
Firstly, I want to categorically assure you that the USC is committed to social justice; it is at the core of the student government and everything we do.? We are committed to supporting survivors of sexual violence and educating our peers about consent.
I also want to commend the work of two very strong and dedicated advocates for survivors of sexual assault, Jessica Tong and Sam Krishnapillai.? Ms. Tong stood up for what she believed in, and by resigning she has sparked constructive discussion about the mission and goals of Peer Support Network (PSN) and the I Know Someone campaign.? She has every right to share her opinions about her experience.? The USC?s Vice-President Internal, Sam, is one of the hardest working and dedicated people I get the pleasure of working with.? She has been striving to ensure the PSN is working as effectively to serve students as possible.? The events in the past day are, however, not about these two individuals, in my opinion, they are symptoms of some greater challenges for the USC.
One of these larger issues is how we handle volunteers.? Ms. Tong left the organization frustrated: this means we didn?t provide her with the meaningful experience she deserved.? We?ve inadvertently done it before, but as a student government we are committed to bettering all volunteer experiences.? We are building better training and personal development programs, better communications tools, and better institutional supports: projects like access to the Human Resources Office and better workspaces where our commissioners, coordinators and interns can collaborate and work together to better our services.? This is something that will take time, but we are dedicating a lot of the government?s resources into developing this program.? Keep watching the USC; it will soon be the best place to learn outside of the classroom through meaningful volunteer experiences.
The other issue that I think we need to discuss is determining the goals of the Peer Support Network.? I think there is a real disconnect between what the elected councilors, who set the direction of council, want and what it is perceived to provide. I think there aren?t enough of our students who access the services that can provide great resources for them. From the perspective of the USC (according to our direction from council) the Peer Support Network aims to be a well-known source of education and support for students from all walks of life, while remaining a place of refuge and community for specific groups.
As a campus, we need to start thinking about what is the responsibility of the student government.? Which services we can offer ourselves through peer support and which services should we be advocating the university or external governments to provide?? We need to acknowledge that we aren?t experts, as executives and coordinators; we can only do so much alone.? How can we better integrate our existing external partners as advisors to what we do?
We?ve been talking to councilors and service coordinators about this, and we are starting to do what we do best: make a plan to make a plan (that?s my attempt at humour).? We?re going to be using some of our new feedback tools, like an online Idea Forum and the upcoming engagement policy (bottom paragraph: http://www.westerngazette.ca/2013/07/17/summer-council-roundup-amending-the-budget-tracking-turf-and-engaging-students/) in order to gauge what the broader student body would like to see.
We will continue to work very hard to solve some of these larger problems, but we need your input, your patience and your support in order to accomplish these goals.
We want to try something new to answer questions you might have about the recent events.? Since everyone is away for the summer, we wanted to try and have online town-hall style discussion.? Sam and I will be available to answer any of your questions and discuss your ideas this Thursday from 1PM to 3PM at westernusc.ca/townhall.? People have been wondering what we can do to improve the USC, and we think the first step is to open the channels of communication.? I sincerely need your help in understanding fully what you want to see from the Sexual Health and Consent Education Service.? I look forward to talking soon!
Finally, I want to say that Sam, Amir and I ran on the principle of listening: engaging with students about changes to services, listening to the ideas they have to make Western even better.? My executive and the whole USC still stand behind that goal, and we are working every day to make it easier for you to tell us what you need.
The USC remains entirely committed to operating the Sexual Health and Consent Education Service and the I Know Someone campaign once a new coordinator has been hired.
Please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns.
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Pat Whelan
USC President
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