The Cadre +

9 February 1999

UPEI News 3

POLLARD NEW OMBUDSMAN

UPEI Student Union Position Deals with Student Problems

BY RANDY MCDONALD

Have problems with UPEI? Treated unfairly by a professor? Problem with your on-campus job?

If you have any type of grievance regarding UPEI affairs, then talk to Ryan Pol- lard, fourth-year English and Political Studies major and the newly-appointed UPEI student union ombudsman.

The ombudsman is a position that was first devel- oped in Scandinavia, de- signed to work out problems between labour unions and big business. When the posi-

tion crossed the Atlantic, it took on new meanings, and evolved into a general plat- form upon which anyone could complain about the services offered by an insti- tution. At UPEI, the position of ombudsman was added to the most recent draft of the UPEI student union constitu- tion.

The position has been left vacant for the past three semesters. Although it is in- cluded in the constitution as a vital aspect of the univer- sity, there has been a general lack of applicants for the po- sition.

Student Union Vice- President Internal Pauline Tran eventually took the ini- tiative to actively seek an in- dividual to fill the job.

“After no one applied for the position at elections, I went around asking people to take the position. Finally, Ryan agreed,” she says.

Pollard’s involvement stems from an interest in stu- dent politics.

“T guess that I first got interested in student politics last year, when | addressed the Student Union about the lack of debate in last year’s student union elections,” he

Any grievence may now be forworded to Ryan Pollard, UPEI’s new Ombudsman

Photo by Richard Haines

explains. “I thought that eve- ryone who went up for elec- tion should have campaigned on a platform, not coasted along.”

He marks that episode as the first thing that got him involved in student union politics.

“I stayed involved in politics, and then, when Pauline [Tran] asked me if I wanted to go for the position of ombudsman, | said ‘sure.’”

Already, in his short tenure to date, he has dealt with some problems posed to him by some students, con- firming the essential nature

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of the post. “I think that every university needs the position of ombudsman,” he stresses. Pollard will continue in the position of ombudsman only until the end of the se- mester, at which point he will graduate from UPEI. He urges other students to get involved. “We need more peo- ple involved in campus poli- tics.”

Any student who has a problem with UPEI can con- tact Ryan Pollard at <rpollard@upei.ca>.

Canada