If you haven’t already heard, the 2012 Fall calendar is going to be identical to the Fall 2011 calendar – meaning that there will be no shortened orientation and no Fall reading week in 2012. This was established during a meeting between some of the student senators, FedS President Matt Colphon, and SSO members Bud Walker, Pam Charbonneau, and Sean Van Koughnett. While the SSO did have a proposal being processed, they were concurrently seeking student feedback through faculty consultations, and due to numerous emerging concerns, the proposal has been scrapped. One of the major reasons cited for this was co-op scheduling conflicts (students could no longer work for the week of orientation). It seems though that through student feedback the SSO realized that their proposal was not well-prepared enough for successful implementation.
Why were the SSO considering an overhaul of the Fall schedule in the first place? One thing Pam Charbonneau mentioned several times was the plan to expand orientation to a full-year experience with events throughout first year, not just in the first week of school. It was stated numerous times throughout the meeting that first years are put through a whirlwind orientation week and then sent on their way without much more support or guidance. Another issue that was mentioned is that UW, unlike other schools such as Queen’s or Western, has little identity with its students. Students tend to associate with their respective faculties (hello, engineering) but not with the whole school. The relationship between faculty and students is considered exceedingly poor – faculty seem to take little interest in student life and their experience at Waterloo. Bud Walker also mentioned that 1 in 4 or 5 students have a mental health challenge and that the school needs to be “more human” in dealing with students who struggle or fail. Bear in mind that some of these issues may affect other faculties differently than in engineering.
The really good news: the SSO seems genuinely dedicated to overhauling and improving the student experience at Waterloo, with special attention to the first year experience. They seem to recognize many of the issues that students at UW have complained about for ages. The caveat though is that while it is great to discuss all these things at a high level, there have been no specifics mentioned and nobody at the SSO seems prepared to provide any sort of concrete plan. This means that, as students, we have the opportunity and responsibility to provide our essential input, otherwise we have no right to complain when things are changed – and eventually, things will change. The university wants to take progressive action towards greater retention and reputation, and this will likely involve scheduling changes.
The first step in developing and executing a vision is to develop our communication channels with the SSO so that students can be an ongoing part of the planning process advising them as to what sounds like it will work and what does not. There are many ways that this could happen. The most obvious one is holding more focus-groups with each faculty to discuss ideas and implementation. It is vital that these groups though reach a diverse population, not just say, EngSoc or Orientation-involved students but all students. Open town hall-style meetings are another choice. Other methods such as surveys are less preferable due to the lack of detail. In any case, it is clear that the SSO needs to do a much better job of consulting students before wasting time and money on preparing proposals that get shot down. At the same time, now that we have an opportunity to be a part of this process (as we should!) students need to seize it – if you want to see your and and future students’ experience at UW improved, this is your chance to speak up. Send emails to the SSO (their emails are online and they will respond), get in contact with EngSoc, talk to me, do what ever you think to get involved.
At the time of this printing the student senators will have met again with the SSO including Vice President Academic and Provost Geoff McBoyle to discuss how the SSO will go about planning changes in the weeks, months, and years to come. An update on that meeting will follow. In the meantime, let’s discuss: Do you think that the SSO’s reasons for wanting to change the Fall Calendar are valid? Does Waterloo need an overhaul or are things fine the way they are? What do you envision for a great first-year experience at Waterloo? Email me at senate@engmail.uwaterloo.ca and let’s talk.
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