THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
DARYL HOFMANN
News Writer
The USSU has a centre for social justice in the works.
President Chris Stoicheff presented the option of opening a centre that would tackle social justice inequalities that arise on campus.
The proposal appears to be in response to a racial profiling incident that occurred on Oct. 14 between the Murray and Arts buildings, where the Indigenous Student Council was targeted.
The U of S has seen a spike in the percentage of Aboriginal and international students recently, and the USSU feels a centre that advocates for racial and ethnic harmony and equality would be beneficial.
The centre would be a resource open to all students faced with social inequalities. Its role would be similar to that of the Pride Centre, which provides solutions to those dealing with issues of sexuality and gender identity.
The centre would recognize and facilitate the many student groups on campus that already deal with social justice and would help organize campaigns that bring awareness to social injustices. Some of these campaigns could include Stop Racism, World Environment Day, Make Poverty History Week and World HIV/AIDS Week.
The centre’s start-up cost could land anywhere between $35,000 to $40,000 and would employ a single paid undergraduate co-ordinator that would provide peer-support to student victims of racial and ethnic abuse.
Council voted and a five-member committee was established to study the benefits of opening such a centre and to guide the USSU in creating it.
The USSU is once again advocating the “Be Book Smart” campaign this semester. Used text books can be found online, from Browsers and also on the boards in the Arts Tunnel.
VP operations and finance Scott Hitchings pointed out that the Place Riel project is officially certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is a third-party green building certification system that recognizes the building was designed and built using energy saving and water efficient strategies.
