January 30, 2007
An open letter to undergraduate students, University of Waterloo
I hope to be elected as your undergraduate student Senator At Large representative because I believe that my extensive experience in student government will be of great benefit to students hoping to get the most out of their university education. I have familiarized myself with a number of issues surrounding Senate, more specifically the “Sixth Decade Plan” prepared by the Senate Long Range Planning Committee under the auspices of Vice-President, Academic & Provost Amit Chakma.
The Sixth Decade Plan is certainly ‘bold & daring’ in its overall vision to charter the course of ‘global excellence’ for the University of Waterloo over the next decade. However, added provisions will have to be made to ensure that the quality of education for students is still maintained as projected undergraduate and graduate student enrolments are expected to increase from 22,000 to 24,000 and 2,600 to 8,000 students respectively by 2017.
The University of Waterloo itself is expanding: we currently have a School of Architecture in Cambridge and plans are underway to open a School of Pharmacy in Kitchener in the very near future. Last year, UW took the first steps towards the possibility of opening a liberal arts college in Stratford, as well as investigating the feasibility of a CERT University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
In order to accommodate this growth, we need to ensure that UW will continue to provide students the additional physical and social infrastructure to make this vision possible, including a significant increase in staff and faculty support. As it stands right now, space is a major limiting factor in both undergraduate and graduate programs: e.g. last year, it was necessary to run several first year Microbiology labs on Saturdays, and this year, plans call for undergraduate labs every night of the work week in order to accommodate (Biology) students.
Solutions to some of these challenges and many more can certainly be found through discussion and consultation, and I hope to be in a position where I can influence long-term positive change on this campus.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I encourage you to read up and be informed on the issues surrounding this year’s Federation of Students elections.
Yours sincerely,
Renjie Butalid
Senator At Large Candidate
Reference:
University of Waterloo Sixth Decade Plan
Experience:
- FEDS Vice President Administration & Finance (2006 – 2007)
- FEDS Arts Student Councilor (2005 – 2006)
- FEDS Board of Directors (2005 – 2006)
- Dean of Arts Nominating Committee Member (2006)
- President – Waterloo Model United Nations (2005 – 2006)
- Walksafe – Student Security (2005 – 2006)
- Executive Member of “theCrew” (2005)
- Arts Frosh Leader (2005)
- St. Paul’s United College Frosh Leader (2003, 2004)
- St. Paul’s United College Residence Don (2003 – 2004)
Popularity: 1% [?]
