By Amy Badry
Clefairy, a friendly, peaceful Pokémon, lives inside Mt. Moon.
Lauren Webber, a friendly, peaceful Students’ Union executive, lives inside MacEwan Student Centre.
This fall, Webber built peace with senior administration after their relationship grew stressed because of proposed tuition increases and market modifiers last year.
Building strong relationships with senior administration has been beneficial for students. Webber invited president Elizabeth Cannon to the Student Legislature Council in order to address faculty representatives’ concerns.
“Answering these question in public forced her to research on the issues,” said Webber. “Little things she wouldn’t know, unless I told her these issues were happening.”
Proactive in building relationships with the board of governors as well, Webber has conducted one-on-one meetings with BOG members this semester to ensure they understand the valuable position the SU plays in the student experience.
Although Webber works hard to improve relationships with senior administration and the BOG, Webber is struggling to make connections with the larger student population.
“You do get a little disconnected working with administration, faculties and the operations side of everything,” said Webber.
Although a loyal Dino fan, working at the beer gardens and cheering on the athletes, Webber needs to continue to work at building relationships with the larger student population at the university.
In order to meet her platform goal to rebrand the SU, Webber needs to listen with her large, sensitive, brown-tipped ears and connect to build relationships with the many student voices she represents.