The Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) is the official representative of students at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

History

On November 10, 1869 students accepted ownership of the Dalhousie Gazette from the founding editors. A

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

was held February 18–19, 1960, regarding the question of a Student Union Building being built on campus. 90.2% of voters backed the idea. 83.2% of students turned out to vote. On November 8, 1968, the Student Union Building was opened. The cost of the building eventually was $3,700,000. The construction of the building was made possible in part by the province of Nova Scotia, which granted a loan of $2,766,600 to the Student Union. The SUB loan was retired in 1982. The

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

approved student-operated

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produce ...

station CKDU's application for an

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license in October 1984. The station's first broadcast was Friday, February 1, 1985, at 3:30 p.m. The Dalhousie Student Union was a founding member of the

Canadian Federation of Students The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is the largest student organization in Canada, representing over 530,000 students from across Canada. Formed in 1981, the stated goal of the Federation is to represent the collective voice of Canadian st ...

in 1981 but withdrew its membership in 1994. In that same year, it became a founding member of the

Canadian Alliance of Student Associations The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is a federally focused student advocacy organization. CASA currently has 24 members, who represent over 275,000 students from across Canada. With a formal partnership with the Quebec Student Un ...

In 2003 the DSU helped found the

Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA) was the largest post-secondary student advocacy group in Nova Scotia, Canada and the largest student organization in the Atlantic Provinces. In 2012 it was renamed Students Nova Scotia. The o ...

, later named

Students Nova Scotia Students Nova Scotia (Students NS), formerly known as the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA), is an alliance of some Nova Scotia post-secondary student associations. Its stated aim is to give students a voice in Nova Scotia wit ...

, Nova Scotia's provincial student advocacy group. On February 27, 2015, the DSU council voted on and subsequently passed a motion to remove its membership from

Structure

The DSU is run by a Council consisting of members elected by either the student body directly in open

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s, or appointed by certain

student societies A student society, student association, university society, student club, university club, or student organization is a society or an organization, operated by students at a university or a college institution, whose membership typically consists ...

. The Council meets every two weeks during the school year, and monthly during the summer. The Council has the ability to approve budgets and expenditures on behalf of the student body. Day-to-day operations of the DSU are managed by the Executive, which is headed by the DSU President. The Executive has the ability to execute its functions and spend its budget as approved by Council, but any new programs or substantial changes must first be approved by Council. The DSU also represents students on the Dalhousie Board of Governors and Senate, and to external organizations. The DSU is granted seven seats on the Senate and three on the Board of Governors. Traditionally, one member of the executive will fill one of these seats and the remainder are filled by students chosen during an election. Students sitting on the Board of Governors or Senate also hold a seat on the DSU Council. DSU elections are held annually, usually in the first week of March. They are preceded by a week of campaigning by the candidates. In the 2007 general election, the voter turnout rate was 21%. The union also employs full-time staff to manage the Student Union Building, the Grawood campus bar, research, communications and reservations for building facilities. All full-time staff are managed by the student union executive.

References

External links

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Tiger Society Website
{{Csa Students' associations in Canada Student political organizations