Slade wants to raise the standards

By Sara Marett
Gazette Staff

For University Students' Council presidential candidate Brett Slade, the status-quo is just not enough.

If elected, his goal as president is to raise the standard of student life and he claims he has a feasible plan to do so. "Things are good right now with the [USC], but we can always do better," he said. He added in the past, many projects have been talked about, but it is now time to take some action. Slade said the way to do this is to get more students involved through several projects he has up his sleeve.

One of Slade's more original ideas he would like to implement if elected is to have a USC storefront on the first level of the University Community Centre. "We need a visual reminder that the USC is in the building and is there to serve students," he said. The storefront would be located just down from Infosource and would operate like a kiosk where councillors would provide information to students and promote USC meetings and services, he explained.

Slade said he would also like to address the issue of the USC's accountability by implementing a USC ombudsperson. "This person would be a medium between the students and the USC and would also serve as a check and balance to ensure we are doing our jobs," he said. This is something most corporations have and is a pro-active way to solve problems, he said.

Having a "voice box" like a speakers' corner on campus is an idea that has been discussed in the past but has never come to fruition. Slade however, said the project is completely feasible as long as it is corporately sponsored. "There's no point investing if it may not work, but if it was sponsored then we could give it a test run."

Another area where Slade would like to raise the standard is with the education resource centre, located on the third floor of the UCC. "This area is not going to be revamped in one year, it's going to be a long-term project – but it is a project that needs to get started immediately," he said. Slade would like to see the room used for club offices, particularly for Western's larger clubs that currently do not have an office on campus.

Slade has some doubts concerning the proposed bus pass and if students do decide to implement the pass, he would like to see a promise of higher quality service from the London Transit Commission. "It is important that [the pass] is a student decision – a decision that students are happy with.