Turn ons:
Sarah Olle set out at the beginning of the year to make SSMU more accessible to students, and she has made progress. Room and table bookings are now online, and both fall and winter term activities nights were a success. Olle has started slogging through the difficulties resulting from the McGill Tribune’s move to go independent. Olle has also created a vision for the Shatner building, setting priorities for space and looking at how an increase in student-run tenants could be made possible. With long-term planning in mind, Olle commissioned a researcher to review the past 30 years of SSMU history to understand its progress, and direction in the future.
Turn offs:
Initially voting in favour of Choose Life’s club status last year – citing free speech – Olle showed backbone last term when she moved to censure Choose Life after the club violated its agreement with SSMU regarding the display of graphic images. Though Olle’s willingness to uphold SSMU policies is commendable, she must work closely with clubs to create an understanding and improve communication.
Desperately seeking:
We would like to see Olle follow through on her second semester plans, and continue to be effective at working closely with clubs on problems.
While we criticized Olle for not having “big dreams” in our fall review, she has followed through on her promises to cut red tape and make SSMU more accessible. Now that we have seen her administrative and political skills, it would be interesting to see what she could do with some more ambitious goals. On her agenda are possible negotiations with McGill about lowering the rent for the Shatner building.