Concerned students call for UWSA reform
By Natasha Marar
News Editor
September 12, 2007
 UWSA executives came under criticism recently when claims of inadequate training for board and council members, and improper rebranding decisions, were brought forward by several students.
Law representative, Ken Birchall, stated, “There is a complete lack of training for board and council.”
UWSA President William Ma admitted, “It’s not the best training we can provide," in reference to the upcoming council retreat in Grand Bend this weekend.
Ma emphasized, however, “In the past there’s only been one and a half day training, and now we are moving it to two days.”
According to Ma, the retreat will cover how council, senate and board will work. "We we’ll go over how meetings will be run over the year, and the responsibilities as a board member, council member, or senator. It’s basically a training session,” said Ma.
Student representative for the Board of Governors, Gary Kalaci, believes the annual retreat is good for bonding but little else, "It isn’t enough; training needs to be continuous.”
VPFO for the UWSA, Jennifer Colluci, stated of the board members, “I believe we have trained them sufficiently in their position at this job.”
However, Birchall maintained, “The Board of Directors will be unable to act as a proper check to the executive and paid staff if they do not receive appropriate training.”
Birchall and Kalaci emphasized that lack of proper training for the Board of Directors can result in poor financial decisions being made by its members.
“They have been used as a rubber stamp to authorize expenditures,” said Birchall.
Cashing out
One of the major expenditures authorized by last year’s board members was the hiring of Silver Lining Ltd. to undertake a rebranding campaign of the UWSA.
“Silver Lining is a marketing company that helps smaller companies market themselves for one year,” explained Colluci. "They came in to do focus groups with us and students-at-large back in the spring.”
Colluci added, “They put together a Personal Silver Lining Plan, and they set targets of how much they will increase web traffic, knowledge and perception of what the UWSA does, voter turnout, and knowledge of services.”
“Silver Lining basically facilitates the process to make sure that things are done in a certain time to get back to us,” Colluci.
“Silver Lining cost $26,500 plus a 15 per cent discount,” said Ma.
“The first $15,000 was passed last year,” said Colluci, who explained that the discount was given on the condition that the remaining balance would be paid in a second installment rather than several installments throughout the next year.
Not always the lowest tender
Kalaci and Birchall expressed concerns about Silver Lining's lack of experience with student unions. “These people had no experience with student unions before," said Kalaci.
Birchall agreed, “[The UWSA executive] gave the job to someone who I don’t think has proven themselves in this matter.”
Birchall also expressed concern over the bidding process used to illicit rebranding services for the UWSA. “[The bidding process] wasn’t really transparent,” claimed Birchall.
Ma confirmed that a tender for rebranding was not formally put out. “It was important to have a decision made so we could have the marketing initiative started,” said Ma.
“Silver Lining conducted a bidding process where they asked several companies to tender the web site. The winner selected by the executive was Silver Lining’s strategic partner,” said Kalaci in regards to the company Lift Interactive.
According to Colluci, Lift Interactive was given the contract for a new logo and web site despite receiving offers from other tenders. The web site cost more than $15,000 and the new logo design cost $1,800.
“It’s not always the lowest tender that we go with,” said Ma.
“We did have a lower tender but they couldn’t offer us previous examples of work,” said Colluci. “We went for product, service, and value.”
Birchall also expressed discontent with the UWSA web site that was recently redesigned by Lift Interactive.
“It really is a transplant of the last web site with a new look,” said Birchall. “There is no value added for the dollar.”
Colluci clarified that many more features will be added to the web site, and will be updated more regularly than in the previous year. “All the features aren’t up because we only had one moth to get this going,” said Colluci. “We are still working through it.”
Some of the expected features include a calendar that individuals can link to their own site, an interactive campus map, a Google bar to search within the site, polling, an RSS news feed, and a comment wall.
Possible conflict of interest
Birchall believes the Silver Lining contract includes the possibility of a conflict of interest between Silver Lining’s president, 25-year-old Carissa Reiniger, and UWSA General Manager, Dale Coffin.
Reiniger was the Student Groups Director for the University of Alberta Students’ Union while it was under the supervision of Coffin, who was the Senior Manager of Student Services at the time.
Reiniger could not be reached for comment.
“There really is no connection with Silver Lining and Dale,” said Colluci.
“In no way was our decision hindered by Silver Lining knowing Dale from before,” agreed Ma. “We don’t find there is a conflict.”
Birchall maintained, “To achieve the UWSA’s goal of being an organization that advocates on behalf of students and provides excellent services, a great amount of change is necessary.”
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