A lack of board candidates, again

For the second year in a row (and the third time in four years), when the nomination period came to an end, there were not enough candidates to fill the 15 seats for the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union board of directors.

This is problematic, considering the board is supposed to be the representational voice of all undergraduate students at Laurier.

Directors are the ones who are supposed to stand up for our rights as students, monitor the president, question management, and ensure that the union is being fiscally responsible.

Although it is easy to blame Laurier students for being apathetic, the consistent lack of interest in the director position brings up the question of why being a student director has become such an undesirable job.

Having been on the panel that has conducted The Cord’s annual board reviews for the past three years, and having attended nearly every bi-weekly board meeting during this time I have seen first hand just how frustrating the board can be.

While every board has strong directors, when April rolls around we say goodbye to another forgettable year in WLUSU politics.

An interesting comment was left on thecord.ca in the response to these years’ board reviews:

"As one of the four life members of WLUSU and Board Member in 74 to 76, I read you report card article with interest. Brought back many memories of my days at WLU with the most striking aspect being that it may be 34 years since I was on the WLUSU board but all you have to do is change the pictures and names noted in the article and you would have the 74-76 boards. Times change but things do not really change that much Harry Hartfiel Student # H16133"

Apparently this lack of student engagement at the board level is not a recent trend.
While each board has unique chemistry, consistently they fail to get much accomplished, which is frustrating not only for students but for directors themselves.

Interestingly enough it tends to be the strongest directors that become disillusioned with the board and the students’ union in particular.

Too often directors feel that they are getting nothing done in their term, and after a year of openly criticize the board, frustrating meetings and little to show for their time, they leave WLUSU to pursue other areas of involvement at Laurier.

WLUSU needs to ask why so few directors want to return to their role (this year only four are up for re-election despite the fact that a vast majority of director’s are returning students next year) and why so few students actually want this job?

If the role of director has become so undesirable WLUSU needs to look at why.

If the structure of the union sets up the board and director’s to fail than it seems it is time for WLUSU to consider changing both the election process, the role of the board, and perhaps even the structure of the entire governance system.


Laura Carlson
Editor-in-Chief