KEVIN MENZ
Associate News Editor

While running unopposed in last year’s University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union election may have left his campaign promises relatively unnoticed, vice president external affairs Blair Shumlich gladly pointed out the reasons why some of those promises have not been kept.

“As I began to learn more about the issues I realized that some of the things I had said I wanted to do over the election probably weren’t quite as realistic as I had hoped, or weren’t even in the best interests of students.

“I had spoken about working with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and at this point I don’t see us pursuing that route,” said Shumlich. “We can get meetings with federal politicians on our own and CASA is advancing the issues that students are concerned about already, so we don’t necessarily need to be a part of that.”

He also noted that he has not been faithful in his promise to attend every city council meeting.

“I had city councillors who will remain unnamed say, ”˜Don’t bother, it’s a waste of your time,’ ” he said. “I just keep up to date on the city council agendas and if there is something student related I attend that meeting.”

He also confessed that his lack of knowledge during his campaign regarding tuition changes has forced him to rethink how he approaches tuition costs.

“Initially I had said that we should match tuition to Consumer Price Index — the measure of inflation,” said Shumlich. “I now think it would be better to pin it to a steady number; one that isn’t tagged to inflation.”

However, he does not think that a cap on tuition is an intelligent option and noted, rather, that tuition must naturally increase. He just wants those increases to be gradual and predictable.

“I don’t think we should put a cap on tuition that is so low that it interferes with the university’s ability to deliver a quality education, but at the same time it’s really important that we have reasonable and predictable increases.

“When this recession hit, governments weren’t allowed to put in as much money for operating grants, and students bore that,” he said. “While I personally believe that university is an investment, I don’t think that it’s the role of the student to make up vast financial shortfalls in provincial operating grants. There has to be a balance between predictability and the amount of money students put into their own education.”

He refused to speculate on next year’s tuition costs, noting that he needs to meet with the university’s budget office to discuss long-term financial plans.

Along with trying to balance tuition costs, creating a Saskatchewan Scholarship Fund has been a priority for Shumlich.

“We are lagging behind quite substantially in scholarships and now the Millenium Scholarship fund is gone — that was $10 million a year,” said Shumlich.

“The Saskatchewan Scholarship Fund would replace those funds.”

He noted, however, that the USSU is looking for something much more unique than a basic scholarship plan.

“What we’re looking for is a matching donor system: when someone donates to the university, the government will match that funding.”

In his ideal vision, this government-matched funding would come into the control of a student committee. This committee would then decide how the money would be used — whether it be for scholarships or bursaries.

For example, take last year’s $12 million donation to the university by Karim Nasser. The government would match that $12 million and the committee could put it towards scholarhips or bursaries.

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image: Olivia Swerhone-Wick