This week, Chef Corey serves up something different, as he doffs his chef hat to chase down an important story for students, the story of the ongoing labour rumbles happening at AU. If you follow AU related news and information, you may have heard of some dispute that’s currently being worked on between the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA) and the AU administration. While most of us are familiar with the idea of unions and administration getting into arguments over wages, this one is even before the wage dispute, as this one may involve changes to AUFA itself.
Corey Wren took up the challenge to dig into the issue and bring the basics of it to you so you can get a quick understanding of what’s going on, and where each side is coming from. It’s the kind of article I love to see in The Voice Magazine, as it’s one that directly affects AU students, and is important for us to keep on the radar as it could have serious effects down the road.
Also this week, Adrienne Braithwaite brings a look at AUSU’s new Peer Course Review system, wondering if it’s as good as it seems. She notes some risks and some wins with the new system, as well as a wish list of things that might be able to make it even better. Read it, then go review your latest course and help out your fellow students.
This week also brings us some news which we’ll be hearing more about in the near future, I expect, with the election of four new students into AUSU Council positions, including the Voice’s own Natalia Iwanek. Fortunately for us, this doesn’t mean she’ll stop writing, and this week, her article looks at the current state of sex working when it comes to academia and the larger society. Unfortunately, it does mean that I need someone new to report on AUSU Council Meetings, the next one of which is coming up in just over a week now.
So if you have an interest in what’s going on with AUSU, are able to spend an evening on the phone each month, and looking for a few extra bucks, consider contacting me at karl@voicemagazine.org and letting me know you’re curious about the Council Reporting position.
But aside from that, congratulations to all four of the winning candidates, and my own thanks to all those others who ran. Elected or not you were an important part of the process, helping students to have options, and, as importantly, being willing to step forward something you felt was important. I can’t help but admire that.
Beyond all that however, we still have all the events, scholarships, advice, humour, thoughtful articles, recipes, and more that you’ve come to associate with the Voice Magazine.
Enjoy the read!
