Opportunities for change

Chris Saulnier was voted president duringthe DSU elections in March. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Are Dalhousie students “engaged”?

Chris Saulnier, next year’s president of the DalhousieStudent Union, thinks so. He cites residence councils, departmentand faculty-level student groups and the more than 250 societies oncampus. But with only 15 per cent of students voting inMarch’s election, it’s clear that there’s adisconnection between student life and student union politics. Hisdiagnosis?

“We hide very well what we do for students,” hesays.

“Most students have very little direct interaction withthe DSU because lot of what we do is administrative: helpingsocieties, offering services, and our lobbying activities,”he continues. “Every year the DSU does great work forstudents but people don’t know about it, and a big part ofthat is we don’t do a good job communicating it.”

Improving communication with students—starting with thelaunch of a new DSU website this fall—is a major part of whatthe 22-year-old computer engineering student looks to accomplishwhen he takes office in May. But he acknowledges that cracking thestudent involvement puzzle is no easy task.

“I don’t think I can walk into office on May 1 andmake students care all of a sudden. But it’s somethingwe’re going to be working on all year with the executive, andhopefully we’ll come up with some new solutions that workbetter than in the past.”

Mr. Saulnier’s path to the presidency provided him uniqueinsight into the workings of the DSU executive. He spent the lasttwo years as member at large on DSU council and was chosen to chairthe executive review committee, establishing new guidelines to makethe five union executives more transparent, accountable andbetter-equipped to handle their roles. Now that he’s joiningtheir ranks, Mr. Saulnier hopes to continue that process byrestructuring the size and scope of the executive’sportfolios, which he believes are too unwieldy.

“Students elect these executive members because they havethese great strategic initiatives they want to implement,” hesays. “Then they get into office and they get bogged down inthe day-to-day of their jobs and never get back to them. And thatdisillusions students.”

Mr. Saulnier, who grew up in Dartmouth, hopes to work with histeam and with council to assess how executive business could bebetter shared among other DSU employees, from commissioners topart-time staff. Other priorities for next year includeestablishing leadership training for council and negotiating a newMemorandum of Understanding between the Government of Nova Scotiaand the province’s universities.

When asked about his leadership style, he describes it as“supportive,” saying that he wants his executive andcouncil to have the freedom to pursue the projects that matter tothem.

“I think we’re going to accomplish quite abit,” he says. “There are not many roles like this thata 22-year-old student can step into and suddenly have the abilityto have a large impact in an organization. I always work hard atidentifying opportunities for change, areas where you can make adifference right away. And there are so many opportunities to do sowith the DSU.”