So just yesterday, I received official notice from a member of AUSU staff that Jodi Campbell, the Executive Director of AUSU, and Chantel Groening, President of AUSU, are both no longer with the organization.  In all honesty, I knew a couple of days before, when something that big happens, information has ways of getting out quickly.

While I have a few details from some of those involved, I’ve yet to receive AUSU’s side of the matter, and don’t want to start speculating until I’ve at least given them a chance to put together some sort of official comment, as the one thing I can point out is that this happened extremely suddenly, and with no indications that anything was amiss before it all went down, so I imagine all involved are scrambling at the moment.

That, in itself, worries me.  While I can understand if a Council decides it wants to change direction, when those changes are sudden and without previous warning signs, it often indicates bad things.  Because it generally means either something has already gone terribly wrong that we don’t know about and the actions are a result of that, or that something is about to go terribly wrong and students should start paying very close attention to what’s happening.

But at AUSU, having students pay attention can be difficult, because the distance nature of our institution means that many students really don’t have a feel for just what AUSU does and how much difference it can make behind the scenes.  That’s where The Voice Magazine tries to step in, and, if things go south, at least make what noise we can about it to bring more student and AU awareness to the issue.

Part of what can make this difficult is that The Voice Magazine is wholly funded by AUSU, which means that funding, and hence the magazine, can disappear overnight.  For the past several years, AUSU and the Executive Director have taken pains to try to ensure the independence of the magazine, allowing us to report on AUSU Council, even when the magazine raised questions about some of what they were doing.  Fortunately, that hasn’t had to happen very often.  I’m hoping both of these things continue, and I like to think they will.  But when things are shifting rapidly, you never quite know what might end up getting side-swiped.  Regardless, more on this issue is definitely to come.

In the meantime, this week, we bring back again our student interviews in “Minds we Meet”, with this week’s interview being an inspirational one, if you ask me.  We also continue with our series exploring what countries around the world are doing about the new tactics of dis- and mis-information as part of foreign interference into their politics and governance. And then, just for good measure, as I’m wanting this to be a more uplifting issue, we’ve got [blue rare] taking a look at all the small things, and reminding us that there are many wonders in life all around us. We just need to take notice.

Plus, scholarships, recipes, thoughtful, inspirational, and educational articles, a virtual tour of Ghent, events, the hot topics, and more!

Enjoy the read!