Student gets backlash after bringing up idea of a student union
Controversy arose when University of Waterloo student Alex McDonald brought up the idea of starting a student union. This idea was shut down immediately by the majority of students.
After taking one political science course, McDonald decided that student democracy would be “a fun thing for the university.”
“We’d have a council, we’d get to vote in referendums, and we would have general meetings which are kind of like parties,” McDonald said.
When McDonald brought up the idea, students spoke up against having a student union.
“I don’t see the point of all this. There aren’t even that many of us right now,” science student Matt White said. “We’re all busy trying to pass our courses, do you think we have time to participate in such things? Nobody’s going to care.”
According to McDonald, “Students will get a lot out of being in a student union, like a sense of community and control over what goes on at the university. I mean, they would have to pay a fee to join, but it would be like 10 cents or something.”
McDonald hopes that as the university community grows, more people will be interested in participating in student democracy.
“There might be some backlash now, but I’m sure my peers will come to see it my way eventually,” McDonald said. “Hopefully in 50 or 60 years, every student will be excited to take part in this new democratic system.”
BY: Catherine Dunne
Honker Staff Reporter
