TOM WILSON
<Chair, Student Caucus>
Hello again, Osgoode!
It feels like weeks since my last update as Chair of Student Caucus. In fact, it has been weeks… and what a busy fortnight it’s been!
First off, congratulations to Davina Finn, Semhar Woldai, Sabrina Lyon, and Jeff Hernaez for being selected to represent the class of 2015 on Student Caucus this year. To the many 1Ls who ran for positions on Student Caucus, thank you for your interest. Throughout the year we will look to your input and ideas on how to improve Osgoode, so please stay involved!
A big welcome also goes out to new members of Caucus, Leeanne Footman (VP Internal) and Camille Dunbar (Equity Officer). With these final additions, your Student Caucus roster is officially full! Judging by the composition of SC, it’s going to be a great year.
Second, the Executive has made its annual appointments to Faculty Council sub-committees. These appointments are pending the approval of Faculty Council at its next meeting.
JD student representation on committees is as follows:
Academic Policy and Planning Committee: Jenn Aubrey, Jeff Hernaez, Yousaf Khan, James Stevenson
Academic Standing Committee: Yousaf Khan, James Stevenson
Admissions Committee: Oyinkan Akinyele, Lawrence Schwartz, Melanie Thomas
Clinical Education Committee: Martin Hui, Sabrina Lyon, Oyinkan Akinyele
Equality Committee: Camille Dunbar, Davina Finn, Martin Hui
Faculty Recruitment Committee: Lawrence Forstner, Fahad Siddiqui, Yuxi Yu
IT Committee: Ricardo Golec, Semhar Woldai, Robert Woodford
Library Committee: Jeff Mitchell
Nominating Committee: Tom Wilson, Elena Iosef
Priorities and Finance Committee: Tom Wilson, Jeff Mitchell
Research and Seminars Committee: Madison Robins
Standing Committee on Teaching and Learning: Leanne Footman, Stefan Radovanovich, Simon Wallace
Student Awards Committee: Victoria Riley
Tenure and Promotions Adjudicating Committee: Kasia Kmieć
Throughout the appointment process, the Executive was mindful of Student Caucus’ commitment to diversity, as reflected in the Student Caucus Diversity Policy. To that end, before the September 9th information session on Faculty Council sub-committees, Oyinkan Akinyele (Communications Director) emailed leaders of equity seeking student clubs to encourage club members to attend the information session and apply for positions. Furthermore, applicants were able to identify themselves as members of equity seeking groups in their cover letter. Self-identification as a member of an equity-seeking group factored into the Executive’s deliberations and showed that for almost all sub-committees an applicant from an equity-seeking cohort was represented.
Regrettably, the Executive was not able to meet all the goals set in the Diversity Policy. Most importantly, the information session was held less than one week before the application deadline and no call for applications was advertised in the Obiter (owing to submission deadlines). Overall, I think this round of committee selections was a good first effort under the Diversity Policy. I will advise next year’s Chair on how to improve and better streamline the sub-committee selection process.
Finally, Student Caucus and L&L representatives are excited to attend an upcoming inaugural event at Queen’s University for the Law Students Society of Ontario. A similar organization existed a decade ago but faded into the annals of history. The purpose of this organization, if created, would be to serve as an advocacy body for law students across the province. Osgoode’s student governments are supportive of this initiative and excited by the many opportunities this organization might offer Osgoode students now and in the years to come.
That’s all for now. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to drop us a line at studentcaucus@osgoode.yorku.ca. Catch you on the flip side!