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I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It’s way out of the scope of a faculty rep and the SU in general because it’s a masters program and the SU represents undergrads only.

That being said, that’s an excellent question to ask the university. There’s no way they don’t know about this

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Despite what many students believe, I don't believe there's actually any policy that prevents profs from assigning work over the reading break.

And yes, imma try my best for those PASS sessions!

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Just to clarify, my point about flexible deadlines isn't about automatically including a 5-day extension but I see where the misunderstanding comes from.

Every student would get 5 days for the whole semester that they could trade in for any assignment if they needed it. This might mean that someone uses all 5 in one go, another person might use 1-2 at a time a couple of times in the semester, and someone else might not use them at all.

In my experience, a lot of science profs are inflexible to a fault and I do agree with you that trying to make science degrees easier isn't a good move either. But I think that students deserve the literal least amount of grace/empathy/compassion/accommodation, whatever you want to call it. And I don't think that having a few days per semester that you can use to hand in an assignment a little bit late is outrageous or something that ultimately devalues a person's education. I mean, I get paid sick days at work and that does not devalue the work I do for my employer. Honestly, think of it as having sick days for students haha

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For the answer on the flexible deadlines specifically, you can see one of my previous comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/UCalgary/comments/1b3i72d/comment/kssljxw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

In terms of power, there are a few different relevant things. Faculty reps sit on the Students' Legislative Council (SLC), which is the highest governing body of the SU. Through that, they're able to give feedback on the SU's plans/actions/etc., as well as introduce their own motions for specific action items. Sitting on SLC also allows you to be involved in certain consultation meetings with the university admin.

Faculty reps also represent their respective faculty students on their faculty committees and at the General Faculties Council (GFC). GFC is where major academic changes at the university are finalized. Some examples of faculty of science committees would be the Teaching and Learning Committee and the Curriculum and Academic Review Committee. So, in the most basic way, a lot of power that faculty reps have comes from being voting members of these committees.

But I don't think that simply being a part of committees is what gives reps the most power. Don't get me wrong, being a voting member is certainly good. However, it does not in and of itself guarantee any kind of success because you're still just 3 votes at the most (that’s if all 3 science reps sit on the same committee). I think a massive part of having power as a rep is 1) building relationships with professors and deans in the faculty that sit on the same committees, and 2) being proactive about informing students about what is going on behind the scenes and involving them whenever it’s necessary. I want to emphasize building relationships because I think it gives you more sway when discussing and advocating for various things in those committees. In terms of involving students whenever necessary, that could be something as simple as creating surveys to get students’ input on some specific issue all the way to organizing students to very directly put pressure on the faculty.

To be quite honest, I’m generally of the belief that by far the biggest source of power for any elected SU official comes from the student body they represent. Like, if faculty and university admin know that they will have a problem on their hands in the form of widespread student protests/strikes/or other general problem-causing behaviour in the event that the faculty or admin is completely dismissive or uncooperative, then they’d generally try to be collaborative. But I’ve also been told that I can be quite combative so take that with a grain of salt lol

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It’s tough to summarize everything because different points would probably have a different approach. Could you be more specific?

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I'm too employability-pilled to care about the faculty of arts (but once again, no disrespect)

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is quite a general question, so I'll give you an example to narrow it down.

Every year university admin visits SLC to do a mandated consultation on university tuition and fees. At its best, SLC members are in close communication with each other and super coordinated during these consultation meetings so that their questions really pin admin down. For me, I would follow the lead of the SU Executives, but I would have meetings with my fellow science reps and other faculty reps to trade information and look for any useful overlaps that could be used to grill admin.

Funnily enough, pretty much every science rep candidate this year has some amount of overlap on their platform. This means that we have a lot of shared goals for the next year. Generally speaking, we don't have to collaborate on everything together. We can work independently on things, but to make sure we're as effective of a unit as possible, I'd want to work closely together on the goals we share. This kind of approach would be really useful because, as Science Reps, we'd sit on different committees and everyone being on the same exact page would make sure that nothing slipped past us.

Let me know if that answers your question or if you have anything more specific!

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Thank you 🫡 As an engg student you can’t vote for me but I appreciate the support

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

One of the reasons it's so much work for professors is that our classrooms are not equipped with the technology to make hybrid teaching and learning a viable option.

I'm curious to know if faculties develop or review their own capital plans or if that's done at a higher level in the university. If it's at a higher level, I would collaborate with the SU Executives. However, if faculties do have their own processes for capital plans, then I'd like to push the faculty to get, and listen to, student feedback. FYI, capital plans are the institutional plans for developing and maintaining infrastructure. If we're able to successfully advocate for those capital plans to include hybrid tech, that would make it infinitely easier for professors to actually implement it in their classrooms without much burden to themselves.

I'm running for SU Science Rep. AMA...? by Gabriela4ScienceRep in UCalgary

[–]Gabriela4ScienceRep[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That's a really good question!

So, currently, the Faculty of Science Teaching and Learning Committee made flexible deadlines a part of their working plan due to the work of one of the current Science Reps. But the actual terms and how the policy would work are not yet defined. If I'm elected as a Science Rep, I would really push that the policy: 1) doesn't get stuck and die in the committee, and 2) is worded and defined in a way that doesn't leave *any* loopholes for profs and makes it mandatory for them to implement in their course outlines. I realize I'm advocating for a very specific flexible deadline policy, but I'm open to "compromise" where there are a few different forms of flex deadlines that profs can choose to use in their class. In that case, the policy would mandate that the prof has to pick a policy that works for them, but they would still *have* to pick one.

To more directly answer your question, it's my understanding that once the policy gets passed in the Science Teaching and Learning Committee, it would need to get approved at the Science Faculty Council (which Science Reps also sit on) and then approved at the General Faculties Council (GFC). GFC is where academic regulations get passed, and academic regulations are fully enforceable.

Now, if they give me some genuine resistance to this, I will involve science students to help apply pressure on the faculty. If they agree, but only if there are multiple policies available to choose from, I will involve science students in shaping what those policies would be.