Students’ council members chat before the September 17th meeting. Amanda Erickson/The Griff

Councillors ask executive committee members tough questions.

Raynesh Ram

Photo by Amanda Erickson

SAMU kicked off its 2025-2026 students’ council meeting with a packed council chamber as students, executives, and council members gathered for an audit presentation. The oral question period dominated the meeting. 

2024-2025 audit presentation

The meeting began with an audit presentation from Patrick Moore, audit partner at MNP, on SAMU’s 2024-2025 fiscal year. Revenue, which mostly comes from student and health and dental fees, rose by six per cent, or $770,000, primarily due to fee increases. Expenses also increased largely because of amortization costs related to SAMU’s building. SAMU has a $2 million surplus earmarked for specific programs. 

Question period: Non-mandatory instructional fees (MNIF), last-minute committee appointments, overlapping reports, dual roles, and the digital ID

During the oral question period, councillor Cierra Jacobs questioned vice-president (governance and finance) Andrei Santiago about discussions with MacEwan on mandatory non-instructional fees (MNIF). Santiago said he was satisfied with registrar fees and said MacEwan is in talks to supplement the mental health fee. However, allocation for sports and wellness fees remains under review. Santiago noted students currently subsidize a chunk of the athletic budget, with ongoing negotiations for university funding. The technology fee will likely be waived for the 2025-2026 academic year. 

“So to be clear and just to clarify on my perceived roles, from nine to five, I’m the president of SAMU.”

— Nathan Poon, SAMU president

Jacobs asked vice-president (academic) Chioma Uzor about last-minute student appointments to the general faculties council (GFC) and whether SAMU would advocate for better planning. Uzor said the university did not tell her why, but highlighted SAMU’s “Get on Board” campaign encouraging student involvement on committees. 

Jacobs questioned overlapping executive reports on events like new student orientation and tuition and fees. SAMU president Nathan Poon acknowledged the need to improve reporting, mentioning the executive committee is still acclimating to their roles. 

President Poon also addressed councillor Layal Zidan’s concerns, spurred by a recent story from the Griff, about his dual roles involving the United Nations Club. Poon emphasized dedication to his SAMU presidency. “So to be clear and just to clarify on my perceived roles, from nine to five, I’m the president of SAMU,” Poon said.

Councillor Vincent Trinh asked Uzor and Santiago about any plans to address issues with the transition to digital student IDs. Uzor mentioned ongoing efforts to explore the accessibility of digital IDs to ensure it is well developed and properly communicated to students. 

Santiago added that many students still want physical ID cards because of their reliability.