President David Collins added a new motion to the agenda of a Jan. 12 Students’ Council meeting to remove the existing mental health committee from under council and add it to the president’s portfolio.
According to Collins, completely new terms of reference were written in response to previous administrative errors and dissolving the current committee would be the most strategically simple method for instituting these new terms. He also stated that mental health awareness and campus wellness are items on his action plan.
Concerns were raised about maintaining the diversity of the committee to address the range of mental health illnesses, services, and conditions present on campus.
“The [Students’ Council] committee is for determining whether or not there is a problem. We don’t want people quarreling about mental health. We want to solve it,” said Collins. “With all the access to the relationships that the president’s portfolio has, we can make sure that action actually happens on mental health and it’s no longer a talking point but a metric-driven action point.”
The motion was put through with six for, two opposed, and two abstained. Until voting for new councillors is complete, the mental health committee has been dissolved.
Applications for the new committee will be published online shortly and Collins plans to have it up and running as soon as possible.
