Say Hello to Your Student Caucus

Fall elections fill vacancies as Student Caucus ramps up for the new academic year

Elections for 1L Student Caucus Representatives took place on September 15, 2014. The results saw Quinlin “Quin” Gilbert-Walters (1L Section A Rep), Lauren Katz (1L Section B Rep), Camille Walker (1L Section C Rep), and Chelsea Caldwell (1L Section D Rep) chosen to be their section representatives. They add to the ten already chosen upper year Student Caucus representatives and the three Legal & Literary Society cross-appointees to fill out the seventeen member body.

“I’m really excited to be involved in the governance of Osgoode,” said Chelsea Caldwell, one of the newly chosen Student Caucus members. “We are a good group. We have a diversity of experiences, good energy, and a lot of enthusiasm. I expect to be very productive this year,” said Jeffrey Hernaez, Student Caucus Chair and 3L Rep, speaking about the 2014-2015 cohort of Student Caucus representatives.

Student Caucus is responsible for advocating for the student viewpoint on academic policy and programing. Members of Student Caucus are voting members of Faculty Council, the Osgoode governance body that determines academic policy. In addition, Student Caucus members fill out the majority of student seats on Faculty Council Committees. These committees span a variety of subject matters including Priority & Finances, Faculty Recruitment, Teaching & Learning, Library, and Admissions.

This year, one of the initiatives being undertaken by Student Caucus is fostering better engagement with the student body. The first stage has already been rolled out with the introduction of the redesigned Student Caucus website (studentcaucus.legalandlit.ca). The goal is to “have an up-to-date place where students can see what’s being worked on by [Student Caucus],” said Hannah de Jong, a 2L Rep. Student Caucus has also created a sub-committee to explore more ways of engaging with student feedback. “It’s really important that Student Caucus representatives are approachable. We can only do our job if we know what students are thinking”, said Henry Limheng, a 2L Rep.

In addition to Faculty Council Committees, Student Caucus members are actively involved in advocating for various student causes and initiatives. Issues currently being worked on include the implementation of a 1L Fall Reading Break, the future of the Material Distribution Centre (MDC) space, involvement with the “125 Fund” (a fundraising effort to fund a new back-end debt relief bursary), and involvement with the Osgoode Law Practice Program (LPP) working group.

When asked what Student Caucus members hope to accomplish this year, the responses showed a commitment to improving student life. An area of particular emphasis was the teaching and learning experience. For instance, Lauren Katz responded she wanted to “engage students from all years in defining what an optimal learning environment at Osgoode would look like and how it could be established, especially through promoting innovative teaching and learning practices and by limiting barriers to student engagement in coursework.” Henry Limheng said, “I want to improve how students get feedback from exams. I would like to see a standardized process and minimum requirements for information provided by professors.” Abigail Cheung, a 2L Rep answered: “one of my goals for this year is to improve the format and usefulness of evaluations by students of professors in an attempt to place a greater focus at Osgoode on effective teaching. I would also like to make professors more accountable to student evaluations.” “I’m interested in developing a ‘best practices’ teaching guide for professors, and creating more oversight for adjunct professors,” said Hannah de Jong.

Responses also touched the subject of academic policy: “I would really like to see change in how the bell curve is applied to small classes,” said Jeffrey Hernaez. The application of the bell curve has been a long discussed issue at Faculty Council Committees over the past two years.

Other members answered that they wanted to improve Osgoode’s standing in the community: “I hope to create more direct access between students and alumni. Alumni engagement will hopefully be a theme in the future,” said Legal & Literary Society President Toby Sampson. “One of my goals is to identify and facilitate opportunities to build bridges between Osgoode students and the broader York University Community,” said Allison Williams, a 3L Rep. Additional responses cited financial accessibility, mental health, equity development, and creating more opportunity for student research as priority issues for members of Student Caucus.

“The perks of the job aren’t great,” said Henry Limheng, referring to the free lunch provided at monthly Faculty Council meetings. “We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing unless we truly cared about how Osgoode is run and improving the student experience.”