Lay it all out for me, could U?
March 18, 2026 7:39 PM
Every year, the student body at StFX elects a students’ union president and vice president, and every year, we are promised many things, among which transparency is the most prevalent.
On a campus such as ours, secrets are not often kept. With what seems like two degrees of separation between each student, rumours spread like wildfire, and it becomes pretty difficult to separate fact from fiction.
This can be toxic for an organization that collects $553,992 from student fees and generates revenue of just under $2 million. The first thing any PR professional will tell you is that admitting to your errors, apologizing, and then doing your best to rectify the situation is the only way to come out looking decent.
Especially when those who provide a little over a quarter of the union’s budget are directly affected by these errors.
For example, when a van that is integral to a service provided by the students’ union is written off over the summer, explaining the situation to the 2,000 plus students who live off campus and thus rely on Drive U should have been the priority, rather than protecting the feelings of one student who chose to take on a public role, and was at fault.
When a slate running for the presidency and vice presidency of the students’ union violates campaigning regulations, it should not take four days for the student body to be made aware of exactly what occurred, once again, in favour of protecting students who chose to put themselves in the spotlight, and made a mistake in the process.
I understand that the U’s listerv rights were taken away, and thus their ability to directly contact students in a timely manner. However, the marketing team, the vice president of communications, and the students’ union at large constantly advocate their social networking capabilities, and are spending $10, 000 to maintain and enhance these capabilities.
Every student that logs on to a computer on campus and opens the Internet immediately comes face-to-face with theu.ca, and I don’t think it’s far fetched to claim that just about every student experiences this every day.
It’s hard to argue against the assumption that the use of all of these outlets, plus Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, could have guaranteed reaching the majority of the student population with information we had a right to know.
As a student journalist, I spend all the time I can making myself aware of what is happening on campus, including the inner-workings of the students’ union. But when I get conflicting stories, am left with unanswered questions, or am blatantly ignored, how can the average student who does not make it their business to dig for information be expected to maintain an acceptable level of awareness?
The students on the fourth floor of the SUB are there to serve us, the students, and we elect a president and vice president with the expectation that they will hire a team of executives with our best interests in mind.
Considering that $65,700 of the students’ union budget is put towards the eight honouraria the executive team receives, I do not think this is too much to ask.
Each of these executive members, along with the councilors, returning officers, chair of council and sub-executives, should put aside their constant concerns with saving face, because at the end of the day, every one of them chose to take on a public role, and they should be prepared to accept all that that entails.
The catalyst for the first student rally held in over three years at StFX was a lack of communication between the administration and the students’ union. Although this was an undoubtedly worthy cause, the StFX students’ union needs to look within their own organization and recognize that they are not immune to similar faults.
If this continues to be ignored, the number of StFX students who have trouble taking their students’ union seriously is set for a steady incline in the coming years.
