After four years on the Students' Society Legislative Council and two years as a SSMU executive, April 30, 2009 marks the end of President Kay Turner's career in the Shatner building. She recently sat down with the Tribune, for a candid exit interview, discussing everything from SSMU's future as an organization, to the resignation of former vice-president finance and operations Tobias Silverstein.
Looking back on your presidential term, how did it go? Was it a success?
I'm really happy with how this year has worked out. Obviously, there were some bumps along the way-our VP finance did resign-but I really think we held it together this year, and I think we had a lot of positive outputs. No year is going to be perfect, but in terms of sustainability and the nursery, I'm happy with how things went.
What was your greatest accomplishment as SSMU president?
The thing I'm most proud of this year is the work I did with [SSMU's] environment commissioner in terms of setting plans for sustainability at SSMU. It's really important, for me, that SSMU is a leader on campus, and in Canada, in terms of sustainability. This year saw a lot of goal-setting and benchmarking that [SSMU] can build upon in the future.
The resignation of former VP finance and operations Tobias Silverstein was a significant turning point in your presidential term. Did you expect the resignation? And, in retrospect, was the resignation handled appropriately?
We handled the resignation in the best way that we could. Anytime you have a situation like that, it's going to be messy. But I think that we handled it well. The recommendation of the Executive to not institute a new VP finance was the right choice.
Did I expect it? It depends on your time frame. Obviously, when he was elected, I didn't think [Silverstein] would resign. But I don't think it was a secret that things were not working out particularly well before he resigned. So, when he made the decision to resign, I wasn't surprised.
This is your fourth year on SSMU Legislative Council. What did you think of the quality of Council this year?
I'm going to be honest-and this is certainly not a comment on any particular councillor, I think we had some very strong individual councillors-but I don't think this was a strong year for Council. Seventy per cent of the time, decisions that were made in the debate were great.
But, as a whole, I don't think Council was strong this year. We had chronic problems with attendance and engagement. And again, that's not a comment on the councillors that were there, because the councillors that attended were great. But this is certainly one of the weaker years.
What will SSMU President-elect Ivan Neilson's greatest challenge be next year?
The number one challenge-certainly something that we've been dealing with this year-is student apathy. This year, of all the years I've been here, has been the worst in terms of student engagement. … Nevertheless, next year's executive is going to be good. There are strong personalities on it, and I think they're going to be great. But it's possible that this year was just a blip and, for whatever reason, people didn't want to be involved. If it keeps going in the way that it has been, though, [student apathy] will be a huge challenge for [Neilson] next year.
How do you combat this problem?
We've struggled with that problem all year. And, what's interesting: we aren't doing anything substantially different from past years. [SSMU's] Listserv has been great and our new website is up and running. I feel like there have been a number of high-profile events that have happened this year, that, in past years, would have brought more people in. But, for whatever reason, [students] are not interested in engaging.
It's tough: is it the institution that's a problem? Is it because SSMU is not keeping up with what students want? Or is that students, themselves, are simply not interested in being engaged? I think some of the criticism is unfair when people place all the blame on SSMU. If you look at our generation, for the most part, we're politically apathetic. How do you reach out to people that aren't interested in being engaged?
You've been on Council for four years and a SSMU executive for two years. Are you sad to say good-bye to the Shatner building?
I'm ready to go. I'm really happy with my time that I've had here, both personally and in terms of what I've seen the institution do in the four years that I've been involved. But I'm ready to go. … If nothing else, there's one thing that I've learned from my time at SSMU: you can't expect institutions run by students to be perfect.
-Compiled by Thomas Quail
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