At this month’s meeting, Call Centre concerns were aired, including the Centre’s long return process, and unsatisfactory response content.

A representative of the AU registrar’s office attended the early part of the meeting, answering questions and taking notes on several issues, including current scholarship eligibility- it seems that while full-time student status is a requirement for a scholarship application, the majority of students [especially distance-ed] are not considered full-time, even if they are enrolled at Athabasca as a supplement to full-time studies at an affiliated university/college.

Before leaving, the representative quietly thanked the council for its time, and remarked that he had a lot of information to take back to AU.

Next on the agenda was the conclusion of the changeover period for the new AUSU student council. Executive positions were designated by vote – Mac McInnis now taking over as council President, along with Teresa Neuman, vice-president, and Karl Low taking on V.P. of finance and administration.

The old council happily passed on the torch, dropping a few words of wisdom and experience to their descendants, advising them to focus highly on teamwork and student representation. One member, who stated she was quite confident in the new council’s abilities, commented, “with all the new executives, AU[SU] will be a very different place in a year or so.”

The new council then heard an informal proposal for a new AUSU committee (Marketing and Public Relations.) The purpose of the committee would be to link students to services and support, creating awareness of involvement opportunities and promos, etc. One idea was that AU Business students could carry out projects for the committee to gain experience. While the council had some concern over budgeting allowances, they seemed confident that the proposal was worthwhile, and a motion was passed to approve the new committee [Marketing and Public Relations.] Shannon Maguire will chair.